Daughters of Two Worlds
by IzzyMorgensternXX
Summary: Set during series 5- The humans are just beginning to accept the wolfbloods, but Jana's problems are far from over. Something is going on within her and it threatens everything she holds most dear.Tensions within the wild pack are almost at breaking point, and Meinir's absence has hit everyone hard. Everything could fall apart. Will Jana be able to handle her changing world?
1. Chapter 1

**Twenty four years ago**

Meinir looked down at the young cub in horror, "What on earth?!"

It gurgled and fidgeted but seemed to be looking up at Meinir with loving eyes.

Her mother looked up at her with a happy but tired smile, "Your little brother."

Meinir looked at her mother as if she'd caught her disrespecting their alpha. Her little brother... What no?... Meinir had known that something was going on, her mummy had been getting bigger and bigger, at first Meinir had thought she was ill, but now...

What would happen now that there were two of them? Now that mummy didn't have so much time to spend with Meinir. Meinir wasn't foolish, she had watched the other mummy's, whenever a new cub came along the older cubs always got pushed away.

She looked up at her mother with tear filled eyes but Meinir's mother was stern.

"You will protect him," her mother commanded, "You will look after your brother. I love you both equally- I will have no fighting between the two of you. Understood?"

"Yes, mummy," Meinir replied obediently.

"Now," her mother commanded, "Leave me and your brother to rest. Go outside and play with the others."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Hafren looked at Meinir in sympathy as the young cub walked miserably out of the tent. Hafren was sure Meinir had been crying- not that anyone would ever be able to tell. Meinir was just like her mother in a lot of ways, and their stoic-ness and fear of weakness was something that they both shared.

"Hey, Meinir!" Hafren called over to her, "Look what I found!" Hafren held up the football. It was a little deflated and very muddy, but she was glad that the humans had left it behind. It wasn't often that humans camped close to their territory and she was glad that the elders had ruled for the pack to stay.

Meinir looked up with a sad smile but didn't stop, instead she headed straight for the tent at the furthest corner of their camp.

Of course, Hafren thought to herself, Of course she would go to them. But it still stung- knowing that however hard she tried to be a best friend to Meinir, and however much she wanted to be the closest thing to a sister Meinir had- she would always be second to Arianne and Ceri.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"He is such a flirt!" Arianne exclaimed to her friend as they sat in her tent, braiding together several strands of bark that would be used later to make a basket.

"I know," Ceri agreed, "But I do like him."

"Gerwyn?" Arianne asked in disbelief, "I swear he's dated every cub our age in the pack! Ceri, please, there are more wolves in the woods, and you deserve someone who isn't going to just muck you around. And it's not like you're going to have to marry soon now, is it? You still have at least a couple of years to find the right wolf. Why settle for less than your enaid cymar?"

Ceri smiled, "You know he could be my enaid cymar."

Arianne rolled her eyes, "Yes, and humans could find out about wolfbloods and form tiny little packs with us."

Ceri chuckled, "It's not totally illogical."

Arianne looked up, sniffing the air delicately. Ceri gave her a tired and irritated look.

"Not again," Ceri complained, "First when I'm trying to sort my herbs, then at lunch, and now too. Why can't she just play with Hafren?"

"Come here, May," Arianne called out, as the young cub fought with the curtain that hung over the entrance of the tent and appeared a few moments later with her hair dishevelled and her eyes looking slightly red.

Even though Arianne was only eleven, and still only a little cub at heart, it was in moments like these that the alpha in her shone out. Arianne was a natural born leader. Whilst she wasn't an amazing healer or particularly good at Eolas, and she would never master Ancian no matter how much her mother and father told her it was her birthright, when it came to looking after the younger cubs she was extraordinary. And she was already getting noticed for it, she'd heard the elders whispering, and even poor little Alric seemed more interested in her- although he still couldn't string a sentence together around her.

Arianne held out her arms and Meinir ran into them, throwing her arms around the older girl's neck and burying her head in the scarlet curls.

"Was it Elgar again?" Arianne asked, "I swear, he might be my best guy friend but if he's cruel to you again I'll get our alpha to send him the Kronock. Meinir was he cruel to you?"

Meinir shook her head, and whispered quietly between sobs, "I have a brother."

"Well that's great news!" Ceri exclaimed, "Awstin and Efa have been wanting a son for so long, they must be so pleased. And now you have a little brother too Meinir, isn't that just great? What name were they going to call him again?"

"Aran," Meinir answered, "But...but... Now he's here they'll just forget about me, won't they?"

Arianne looked at Meinir sympathetically, "Do you know how worried I was the day I came here? How worried I was being only nine years old and having to leave my old pack? I thought they'd forget me too. But then only last winter solstice they joined us, didn't they? You won't get left behind, carriad. Your mummy and daddy love you lots and lots and so will Aran. You know I bet he already does! And you have me too. Don't ever forget that."

Meinir smiled at the older girl, before brushing the tears out of her eyes, "Thank you."

"No problem," Arianne said, before standing up, Ceri joining her, "I'm tired of making these baskets, we can finish them tomorrow. Let's go find Hafren, she's been going on about that football so much and I've watched those humans playing with it. Who says that we can't round up Gerwyn, Elgar and Alric and have a go at this so called 'foot-ball' ourselves, eh?"

 **Present Day- Set two months after the end of Series 4**

Emilia landed on the ground with a loud thud, earning an eye roll from Cadwr and a stern look from her mentors, Aran and Hafren. In fact, Hafren looked even more annoyed than usual, was it that Aran was being unnecessarily clingy now that Meinir had left? Or was it just Emilia misinterpreting the older girl's body language? After all, Hafren was grumpy most days.

"You scared all of the animals," Cadwr chastised her, "Just as well we're not hunting today."

"I was trying to surprise you," Emilia replied, nudging him playfully.

"By jumping out a tree?" Cadwr replied with a raised eyebrow, "You need to be more inventive than that."

"You surprised me," Aran said with a pale and disappointed look on his face, "That's a good ten feet Emilia! If your brother had seen you... I promised him I'd look after you, if you were to get hurt he'd skin me."

"Don't worry about Matei so much Aran!" Emilia tried to reassure him, "Matei's bark is worse than his bite. I do miss him though..."

"Next full moon," Aran answered, "Alric made Jana promised, every three full moons she must visit us."

"Why not every full moon?" Emilia asked, "Katrina can drive now. Why can't they visit every full moon?"

Aran looked at the little fire-walker with a sad smile, "It's a nice idea but Jana and Katrina have jobs and they can't just take time off whenever they like. Also we'll be moving to our summer territory soon, all the way in Firth, it'll be too far for them to travel every month. I miss them too, Emilia, I miss my alpha and Meinir but they are happy, I know they are..."

Hafren looked back at Aran with an irritated gaze, "Enough of the pep talk, we're supposed to be teaching them about medicinal plants, not reminiscing about the old times."

"But don't young remember how much fun we used to have as cubs?" Aran asked, "You and May were like sisters, and then when I came along and the way you used to be like a mother to me..."

Hafren snarled, black veins appearing on her face, "Enough Aran! Our alpha has given us a task, and it seems it's all on me to make sure it gets completed."

Emilia and Cadwr shared a covert eye roll.

"But what's the point?" Emilia asked, "I'm a fire-walker and everyone knows Cadwr's going to be a hunter when he's older."

Hafren gave the cubs an infuriated look, "And what if you were to get stranded and were injured? I'm pretty sure your lovely Matei would be devastated to hear that his ickle little sister died because of her own stupidity and pride..."

"BACK OFF!" Emilia snarled, eyes flashing yellow and black veins appearing on her hands and face, if Aran hadn't pulled her back then she was sure she would have attacked Hafren there and then.

"Enough!" Aran commanded, "Both of you!"

"Oh dear," Hafren said, her head held high, looking down her nose at the young cub, "We still have so so far to go."

"Leave it Emilia," Cadwr said placing a hand on her arm, before whispering to her, "Let Matei and Jana tear her to pieces when they come back."

Emilia nodded to him sincerely, "She's not getting away with that."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Enjoy your day!" Jana said to the woman she was serving as she passed her a cup of steaming coffee.

Katrina looked on with a thoughtful stare as she watched Jana race backwards and forwards. There was definitely something more to this than what was meeting the idea... Yes, Jana was hard-working... Yes, now that wolfbloods were out Jana had been using her wolfy super-speed at work to improve customer service... But there was more to it than that. It was as if Jana was trying to focus so much on working so hard to try to distract her from something else.

"Take a break," Katrina said to her for what must have been the tenth time, "You've more than earnt it."

Jana shook her head, "It's ok. I'm good."

"Well at least take some time off on Friday," Katrina said, before grabbing her apron, "You know, you and Matei. It's going to be your month anniversary of being together. And there is that sappy new movie on at the cinema. Back row, you two... Oh don't give me that look Jana, it's an important human right of passage."

Jana rolled her eyes, "Human, human. I might live in the city but I was raised as an alpha's heir, and tonsil tennis at the back of a cinema isn't an appropriate way for an alpha to behave."

Katrina shook her head with a laugh, "Compared to the way you and Matei behave, oh yeah, I know exactly what you two get up to in that den."

"Katrina!" Jana yelled, almost covering herself in the remnants of a coffee filter as she slammed her hand down on the side.

"And then last night," Katrina answered, "I knew someone was in the bathroom. And you never wake up in the night... Like ever."

Jana bit her lip, "Ok, yes, I might have snuck Matei in last night."

Katrina smiled, "Well I'm not judging. Your nearly seventeen, he's sixteen. It's all legal. I say go for it."

Jana blushed and let out a shocked chuckle, "Seriously?"

Katrina nodded, "And I'll get a key made for him too. I'm happy for you Jana. You deserve to be happy. But if Matei has a hot long lost cousin..."

"Like I said before," Jana replied, "I'll make sure to send him your way."

"Thank you," Katrina smiled, "Your the best non-human flatmate a girl could hope for."

Jana shook her head with a smile, and shrugged. Before sighing and turning back to face the counter.

"What's wrong?" Katrina asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," Jana reassured her, "Matei's got exams this week, I'm just worried for him, you know how much he wants to go to that special college. He's been revising like crazy. I guess I'm just a bit stressed too."

Katrina smiled, "Matei's a genius and he's going to ace these exams and then he'll be the most amazing doctor ever, I just know it."

Jana smiled, "All I've been hearing these past few days is about quadratic equations and nucleophilic substitutions. I thought we'd escaped all of that."

"Well that's what happens when you decide to date a school boy," Katrina answered.

Jana sighed, "There's nothing wrong with that is there? Me dating a schoolboy and... Well, you know... All the rest."

Katrina shook her head, "It's not like you're forty and he's twelve! And you two are unique. I don't think there are any rules that have even been written about wolfblood teen relationships yet."

Jana nodded, smiling.

"What are you smiling like that for?" Katrina asked Jana with a puzzled look.

"Oh, it's nothing," Jana said, hoping that she would feel better now.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Matei came out of the exam hall with a huge grin on his face. That exam had been easy, and it had been physics, his least favourite subject, only two more exams and he would have finished his GCSEs and finished school too. It felt strange, leaving school and going into the adult world. He was surprised to admit that he was actually going to miss this place.

Selina ran to catch up with him, "That was amazing! I swear if we don't come out with A*s I'm going to be shocked."

Matei smiled as TJ caught up with them sighing and rolling his eyes, "Ok, ok. I get it. You two are natural geniuses. And Matei, your super-speed reading is like Ancian, it's an unnatural advantage."

"Whatever TJ," Matei replied, "Let's just head to the Kafe. Jana should be finished by now. Let's grab a drink before heading back to mine."

"So I can watch you two making terrible science innuendos again," TJ replied, "No way, and my mum said I've got to be back for six."

"Suit yourself," Selina answered, "But you do know there's discounted cakes on Wednesdays after five, right?"

TJ looked at Selina disapprovingly, "I swear you're going to get me in so much trouble with my mum. If I keep on breaking curfew..."

Matei rolled his eyes, "Let's just get going shall we."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana ran over to Matei as she caught his scent, barely allowing him enough time to get through the door before flinging her arms around him and kissing him exuberantly.

Matei automatically wrapped his arms around her but he was shocked. What on earth? Jana had been so distant last night, and now. Gods, girls could be so confusing.

"How did the exam go?" Jana asked, looking up at him with a beaming smile.

"Erm, good," Matei said trying to regain his composure, "Really, really good."

Jana smiled at him exuberantly, before leaning in close to him, "Your place or mine?"

"Erm, excuse me?!" TJ asked in borderline hysterics, "Hello, I do have supersonic hearing just so you're aware."

"Are you sure?" Matei said worriedly, "It's just last night, I thought..."

"Don't be so silly," Jana said playfully, "Besides you need to relax, with all these exams and revision, I barely get time to see you."

"By Friday it will all be over," Matei promised her, "And then we have months and months ahead of us."

"I like the sound of that," Jana replied, with a little giggle.

TJ narrowed his eyes in disgust, shaking his head in disbelief, "If you've been using our den..."

Jana tried her best to hold back a guilt look, with no success.

TJ shook his head, before walking off towards the nearest table and sitting down furiously.

"So what should I get everyone?" Katrina asked, walking over to them with her notebook and fluffy purple pen.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana looked in the bathroom mirror, taking several deep breaths to try and calm her breathing. What the hell was going on with her? She thought she'd fixed the problem, but no matter what explanation seemed to make sense, nothing seemed to fix the issue. No matter what she tried.

And it was killing her.

In every way Matei was perfect. He always knew how to be charming and romantic and he was always kissing and hugging her, and even when they argued it was always about something silly and small and one look from Matei would start them both laughing until they ended up in each other's arms kissing again.

She loved every part of him and she knew he loved every part of her. And that was why she felt so miserable and why she was just trying to block out that feeling, because everything Matei was doing was right and nothing made sense at all.

Because hugging and kissing that was all great and all fine, but anything more than that just felt wrong to Jana and she didn't know why.

But the last thing she wanted to do was admit that to anyone. So she splashed her face with cold water, told herself to pull herself together again and go on pretend like nothing was going on.

Because there was no way she was going to break Matei's heart.

Or her own.


	2. Chapter 2

**21 years ago**

"Come on, Aran!" Meinir nagged, "We can't be late or we'll be sent to the Kronock."

Aran tugged at his jacket grumpily, "It's too scratchy."

"It will have to do," Meinir answered, "I told Arianne I would there already. You know how important wolfblood wedding days are, and this is the most important one ever. One day Alric is going to be our alpha and Arianne is going to rule by his side as his enaid cymar alffa. Do you understand? We absolutely must be there or it's going to end badly for us."

Aran nodded, his emerald eyes looking at Meinir with absolute trust, he took her hand as they rushed towards the crowd waiting in the clearing, everyone was there already. All of the elders were gathered on a wooden platform, with chairs placed in a semi-circle, near the alpha's tent. Only Arianne and Ceri were missing, as was customary. Alric was waiting shyly with a slightly angry Elgar. Everyone knew Elgar was mad that Arianne and him weren't enaid cymars, that was the only way the marriage contract could have been annulled. But alas, Arianne and Alric were enaid cymar alffas, it had been interesting to see them fall in love but Meinir couldn't remember much of what had happened, she was only six now of course. And then Aran couldn't remember much at all, he was only three, still really a baby.

Hafren dashed towards the siblings, blue flowers in her hair. She was wearing a new dress, pack made (as opposed to stolen from a human charity bin like Meinir's).

"Aren't you supposed to be helping Arianne?" Hafren asked in confusion, "I thought she asked for you as her second lady in waiting."

Meinir nodded, "I had to get Aran ready. Mother and Father were busy helping the elders."

Hafren nodded, "Come on, Aran. Let's go for a little walk before the wedding."

Aran looked up at Meinir for reassurance, "But we'll be late."

"No, Aran," she said, hugging him to her side, "Hafren will look after you, everything will be just fine."

"You better run," Hafren said, "The wedding is going to start in half an hour."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"How do I look?" Arianne asked worriedly as she played with the end of a curl of her hair, "What do you think of the dress? Do you think he'll like it?"

"Wow!" Meinir exclaimed as she dashed into the tent and Arianne smiled at her welcomingly. Arianne was wearing the mos beautiful dress that Meinir had ever seen- floor length and brilliantly golden with leaved stitched in an ivory thread around the hem. Arianne's hair had been pulled up into an intricate style- half-up half-down, and her curls seemed to be glistening in the morning light. She had tiny blue flowers in her hair too. To Meinir she looked like an angel.

"See what I told you," Arianne said, walking over to a small table and picking up a thin blue bracelet, "Meinir is a girl after all."

Meinir blushed, staring at her muddy boots. She felt ashamed at being such a girly girl. She wanted to just as tough as all the boys. Hafren wasn't girly at all, she hated dresses and hated having flowers in her hair. Hafren was two years older than Meinir, and she was already so respected. Meinir wished she could be respected like that.

"Not that girly," Ceri replied, "Look at the state of your dress, Meinir. It's muddy already!"

"Ceri!" Arianne complained, stepping between her two friends, "How many times? Enough! Meinir is just a little cub, ok?"

"I hate being a cub," Meinir complained, "No one listens to you when you're a cub."

"Hey!" Arianne replied, hands on her hips, "You know that's not true! I listen to you."

Meinir bit her lip, "I know...I just mean that..."

"Elgar," Ceri replied, with a worried look, "He should just leave the pack already. Yorath wasn't at all pleased with the way he behaved. Elgar needs to learn some respect and diplomacy, and an understanding of what clearly never his in the first place."

"Enough!" Arianne yelled, "He is still my friend, Ceri! He deserves to be in this pack just as much as Alric, just as much you, and just as much as me. Don't ever forget that. Don't think for a second that I'll let them drive him away."

"But he's cruel and rude," Ceri answered, "He bullies Meinir and Aran. Undermines Alric. They say that a pack can't survive with two alpha females, well guess what? It can't survive with two alpha males either. Yorath knows that, and he won't let anything threaten his son's position."

"Elgar is still my friend," Arianne said, with utter seriousness in her eyes, "I will speak to him, get him to stop bullying the cubs once and for all. Get him to work with Alric I will do everything in my power to get Elgar to only see me as his friend and nothing else. Trust me, Ceri, trust me, please."

"Of course I do," Ceri answered, "I just want everything to be perfect for you and Alric. The perfect wedding, the perfect coronation, the perfect cubs..."

"Oh, not you too?" Arianne said with an eye roll and shaking her head, "Everyone seems to want me to be with child already!"

Meinir grinned, too young to understand what it all meant, but old enough to understand that it was a dirty topic.

"And no one would hate you if you were," Ceri answered, "Just as long as it was your intended's child and no one else's."

Arianne smiled, "Ceri? Really? You mean you and Gerwyn?"

"Oh not like that!" Ceri chided her friend, "I'm only sixteen. We're just being careful, or rather I am. You know how dense Gerwyn can be at times, I swear he doesn't know his full moons from his dark moons most of the time!"

"But you still love him anyway," Arianne added, "And now you are kind of technically married, well I'll speak to Yorath about getting a ceremony arranged for the both of you. You're my best friend, Ceri, and alpha's second. You deserve to be spoilt too."

Meinir smiled, no understanding a word of what was being said, but knowing that she was happy that Gerwyn and Ceri were finally getting married. She liked Gerwyn, he was always playing pranks on Elgar and Alric, and he was always up to some mischief of one kind or another. And best still, even though he was fifteen and she was six, he would always let her tag along. Once they'd stayed out until the early hours of the morning hunting and catching fireflies so they could play an awesome prank on Elgar- they took the skull of one of the deer and stuck a jar of fireflies in it and opened the door to Elgar's tent- and BOO!

Meinir could barely hold back a laugh at the memory, she had never heard Elgar scream so loud.

"And then there's this little one!" Arianne said, holding out a hand to Meinir, who took it gladly, "Don't worry, Meinir. There's a special surprise for you today too."

Meinir frowned in confusion but the older girls just shared a knowing look and smiled.

"So Yorath agreed?" Ceri asked.

Arianne nodded, "Absolutely. In fact. He was going to suggest it himself."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

 **Present Day**

"So what are your qualifications?" the interviewer asked as Meinir picked at her cardigan. Why on earth was she going through with this?

"I don't have any qualifications per se," Meinir replied, "My parents home-schooled me. I learnt most of my artistic skills from them."

Artistic skills! Meinir wanted to laugh at herself. Who was she kidding? Yes, she could weave a basket quite well, and yes, she could mend garments. But her 'artistic' skills, well, humans didn't consider carving up meat to be a creative experience. There was an art however to being a good politician, Meinir thought to herself, and she did have a lot of experience in politics- even it was really only in failed coups.

The interviewer nodded in understanding, looking at the designs in the portfolio, "Well you will have to take English and maths classes. And probably IT too. But from what I've seen, I'm more than happy to accept you onto our modern design programme."

Meinir smiled, "Thank you."

The interviewer smiled at her, "I do have one question however. If you don't mind me asking?"

Meinir shook her head. She just hoped it wouldn't be anything too technical.

"What is life like as a wolfblood?" the interviewer asked.

Meinir let out a sigh, not sure how to begin, she bit her lip, "Well, I'm not actually a wolfblood."

"Really?!" the interviewer asked in shock, "I'm sorry, I just assumed. It's just all these wolf designs are quite, well realistic. And I thought... Well it sounds silly..."

Meinir nodded for the woman to go on.

"I've seen the video," the interviewer continued, "And this wolf here. Looks familiar to me."

"I just copied them from photos on the internet," Meinir replied, "Must have been one of the wolves in that video. I've always been obsessed with wolves."

"But you haven't seen the video?" the interviewer asked curiously, "It's been up for a good two months now."

Meinir shrugged, before answering feebly, "Wolves aren't wolfbloods."

"Of course," the interviewer said, "We don't have to worry about wolves roaming our streets. But wolfbloods? I know those teenagers seem to be very ordinary, but I've been afraid to let my daughter go outside. What if she were to meet one of them? Because no one knows how many there are, do they now? What if she were to meet a wolfblood? To think that the government is just letting them carry on like nothing's happened, they could be a threat to our security!"

Meinir gripped the edge of the table, glad that she no long had to worry about her wolf eyes and veins showing, "I'm pretty sure they're just normal teenagers really. The worst thing they'll do is play their rubbish music too loud."

The interviewer chuckled, "I just hate all that electronic stuff, don't you?"

Meinir nodded, "Definitely."

"Well here you go," the interviewer said, "You start next Monday. We'll see you then!"

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"So I guess that's curry for tonight all paid for," Jana said as she deposited a ten pound note in the tip jar.

"Wow!" Katrina replied in surprised, "How on earth?"

Jana shrugged, "I know. It's good to see that the Kafe is still expanding. Now we're appeal to a richer class as well, maybe we should think about upgrading the specials?"

"I'll talk to my dad about it," Katrina said, "And I'll make sure we get something special for dessert. It's a shame Matei cancelled on you like that."

"Oh, it's ok really," Jana said nonchalantly, "I forgot what is was like when Rhydian used to have meetings with his social worker every month."

Katrina frowned, "It still sucks that you won't be able to celebrate your month anniversary on the actual day. And I thought it was a private arrangement, through Segolia."

"Well Segolia collapsed," Jana said, "And people started asking awkward questions about Emilia. Amanda and John thought it was best to do everything through the legal route."

"But Matei could move out now," Katrina replied, "If he wanted to."

"Why would he?" Jana asked, "He loves his foster parents. And Newcastle isn't exactly cheap."

Katrina smiled.

"Oh, I get it!" Jana said with an eye roll.

"It's not that I don't love living with you," Katrina replied, "It's just well, we're all getting older now, and I'd understand if you and Matei wanted to move in together."

"We've only been official for a month, Katrina," Jana answered, "And ok, we were sort of boyfriend and girlfriend for a while before that but it's still early days."

"Not too early for some things," Katrina said with a wink.

Jana shook her head, she definitely didn't want to be talking about that, "Well, Matei's still in his exam, but I agreed to meet him after school. I've got to be off. That guy's coming from Scotland Yard again and I agreed to meet Dr Whitewood at the den."

"It's been two months," Katrina replied, "I thought things would start calming down by now. But it's still blood tests and DNA samples every other week. And those other tests just around the corner. I swear it makes me sick a little, it's like you're lab animals now. Especially you, Jana, I know how much your wild wolfblood DNA and Ancian and Eolas interest them. And I can't help but think- TJ's got Imara, Matei and Selina have got their parents, and even though my dad has been really great and understanding well, it's not like he can do much. You need your own parent here, or someone to act like that. Not only to step and tell those government workers to back off but just to be there for you. You're only sixteen, Jana!"

Jana smiled sadly, "It's just how things go."

"It's still not right," Katrina argued.

Jana picked her rucksack, "C'est la vay!"

"C'est la vie," Katrina corrected her, "And good luck."

Katrina shook her head, trust Jana to not know what that song really meant. Of course Jana still thought it was about wolves.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

The man shifted uncomfortably where he was sat on the sofa as Jana carried in the second hand tray with several packets of biscuits and cups and saucers balanced on it.

He smiled at her in thanks and Dr Whitewood passed him a folder containing Jana's notes.

"So you see," Dr Whitewood began, "The tests came back the same again."

"Good," Mr Tennerson replied, "I just wanted confirm what we'd seen before. We just need to go through some paperwork today. I'm glad you volunteered Jana."

Jana bit her lip, she didn't really have much of a choice. If she disagreed then she'd be put on that list, and the last thing she needed was for her pack to put on a security risk list- to have to sign on at the police station every week, to be watched everywhere they went. Even if they weren't doing anything wrong... Well she hadn't been back to the wild pack yet, and she didn't have a clue as to how she would tell them when she did go. The last thing she wanted was for the humans to follow her there before she even got to tell her father. Hopefully he wouldn't be too mad at her...

"Jana?" Dr Whitewood asked, "Did you not hear what I said? This is entirely voluntary. Personally I do have a few concerns. I wouldn't try these drugs on a human let alone on an entire different species."

"But you have to agree," he argued, before taking a sip of the slightly too strong coffee, "It is a good stepping stone between animal and human testing."

Dr Whitewood looked like she wanted to kill him, "Absolutely not! Jana has rights too!"

"Jana and her fellow species' rights are still being debated in parliament," Mr Tennyson replied, "A whole new act alongside the human rights act. Same idea of course. But you have to see Jana, what with your immune system being so much stronger than any other wolfbloods, it offers such a possibility for research."

"I understand," Jana said, "I just want what's best for everyone- human and wolfblood. Like you said, cooperating will help our case."

"There is a fine line between encouraging and coercing," Dr Whitewood said.

"I am just following orders," Mr Tennyson replied, before passing Jana the paperwork, "Now these papers are confidential. You know what that means?"

Jana nodded, "Just me. No one else."

"Of course," Dr Whitewood said, "But if there's anything you don't know the meaning of."

"Confidential means confidential," Mr Tennyson replied sternly, "When you are ready Jana, just sign and I'll send it straight over to the main office."

"I really think you should let me look at that," Dr Whitewood said, "Jana can hardly be expected to understand complicated medical jargon."

"Well, I think you underestimate her," Mr Tennyson replied, "After all didn't you say that Matei is an aspiring doctor? I doubt Jana will have too much trouble understanding the paperwork. And of course, Jana understands the risks if she doesn't continue with the testing. I'm trying my hardest to make this work for everyone, but if Jana doesn't agree then I can only do so much to protect her and her 'pack'."

Jana bit her lip, wishing that she could ask Dr Whitewood to read the paperwork. Words stood out... Risks of hypertension, myocardial infarction and deep vein thrombosis. She could barely read the words let alone know what they meant.

"I'm ready," Jana replied, "After all it's only a drug for flu. If it were something more serious then I'd be more concerned."

"It doesn't work like that," Dr Whitewood said, "You don't have to go through with this."

"I'm fine," Jana reassured her, signing the form with her scrawled signature, "Here. It's done."

Mr Tennyson smiled, "There's a good girl. Now, let's look at the results of the blood test."

Jana shifted impatiently and he organised the forms and pulled out a new sheet of paper.

"All within the normal range actually," he answered, "Rather surprising. I guess in some ways you are a lot like humans."

"I told you as much," Dr Whitewood said with a sigh, "Of course all of Jana's hormone levels were going to be normal."

"I just wanted to verify for myself," Mr Tennyson replied, "You can understand why I don't trust anything that comes from Segolia."

Jana stared glumly at the floor, "So you mean they're all normal? It's just I thought..."

Dr Whitewood looked at her in concern, "Why on earth would you think anything was abnormal? Are you ok, Jana? You haven't been feeling ill recently, have you?"

Jana shook her head adamantly, "No, there's no reason. And like I said, I'm happy to go ahead with the trials."


	3. Chapter 3

**21 years ago**

Arianne and Alric stood before the make shift altar, above in on branches hung several ornaments related to different spiritual beliefs that the pack held- references to nature and the deities, references to the ancestors- all being called upon to help the new couple and their future descendants.

Meinir, Ceri, Hafren and Aran were gathered in a small group off to one side and were able to watch everything. They had watched as Arianne's parents led her towards the altar and they had seen how nervous both Arianne and Aran had been. The vows were all in Welsh, and difficult even for the adults to understand at times, let alone for the little cubs.

The bard and priestess who were conducting the ceremony held the wedding ribbons in their hands and were beginning to tie them around the young couple's hands, signifying that they were now bound together for life. Alric stared into Arianne's eyes happily but fearfully, as if seeking approval from him. Arianne smiled back and Alric seemed to relax a little, knowing he was doing something right. Elgar shifted awkwardly, he looked like he definitely wanted to leave but tradition and duty bound him to the spot.

Soon the bard and priestess were finished tying the ribbons and the young couple turned to face the rest of the pack who cheered loudly in response. Yorath allowed it to go on for a few minutes, which was strange considering how much he hated loud noise and shouting, but he must have been in a very good mood. He took to the platform after motioning for silence.

"This day will go down in our history forever," he began, "Our packs united through the marriage of these two young cubs. May they be prosperous and produce many heirs. As you know I am due to abdicate after this full moon, I am not getting any younger and it is time that I allowed my son to rule, whilst I still have time to coach him."

This got a few whispers and worried looks from the pack, Alric looked like he was about to throw up but Arianne remained strong for him, and seeing her strength he straightened up and standing taller and more dignified.

"Of, they will need an heir now," Yorath continued, "We have been watching the cubs for many months now to see who has the strength, courage and stamina to be a good leader."

Hafren gazed at Meinir excitedly before whispering, "Just imagine if it was one of us! The glory..."

"It would be an unbelievable honour..." Meinir whispered back.

"In our eyes there is only one young cub who has succeeded in showing all of these qualities," Yorath said, "Who has shown unwavering loyalty. Who has stood by our principles to the letter and will guard our traditions for their life."

Arianne smiled over in the direction of the group of cubs and Meinir and Aran shared an inquisitive and worried look. What was she trying to tell them?

"That cub is Meinir," Yorath announced.

Meinir looked up at her alpha in astonishment. Her? Really? Her? Of all of the cubs, they had chosen her to be Arianne and Alric's heir?

Yorath looked at the young cub with proud eyes and nodded for her to join them on the stage. She walked up the steps, too afraid to look out at the rest of the pack, afraid that they'd see the truth, that she was no more than a scruffy beta cub that couldn't even tie her own shoelaces yet.

Meinir stared at the platform floor timidly, but a hand on her shoulder made her look up. Arianne- and the young girl looked stern and unrelenting, as she commanded in a hush tone,"Head up! Look out at them and hold their gaze. Shoulders back. Your an heir not a mouse."

So Meinir did what she was told, and that's when she noticed Hafren. The girl looked at her with eyes full of venom. No, no, Hafren was her best friend, she couldn't possibly destroy that, there had to be some way to show her that she was wrong... that Meinir had nothing to do with any of this.

But instead Hafren looked at her once before darting away in the forest.

It dawned on Meinir that nothing would ever be the same.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
 **Present Day**

Matei held Jana's hand at the strolled along the side of the harbour stopping every now and then to gaze out at the boats and watch how the sun hit the waves. It was the end of May and it was already warm (well warm for Newcastle anyway), but Matei hadn't shed any layers at all which surprised Jana. She herself had sadly hung her leather coat up in her wardrobe a few days before, and was now apprehensively looking forward to another summer of trying not get terrible sunburns. As much as she loved being a red head, being so fair skinned was something that irritated her to no end... And of course Matei being part Romanian didn't have to worry so much, in fact he was already quite tanned, which Jana liked a lot.

"I'm sorry about Friday," Jana said, staring at the ground, "If I'd known earlier I would have tried to reschedule."

Matei squeezed her hand, "It wasn't your fault, they shouldn't have sprung that appointment on you like that. Are you sure you're ok?"

Jana nodded, although she still felt queasy, "Yeah, it's just being out in the sun too long, makes me a little light-headed."

Matei looked at her worriedly, "We don't have to walk along the harbour if you don't want to."

A wave of nausea hit Jana, and she dashed for the shade, hoping she wouldn't have to use a nearby flower pot as a substitute sink.

"Jana?" Matei asked worriedly as he helped her sit down on a nearby bench and moved her hair away from her face. She was boiling and more than he'd expect from just being out in the sun for an hour. She was feverish, and it was a bad fever at that.

He sat down next to her, resting her head on his shoulder and rubbing her back soothingly.

"Jana," Matei said, "I think I should take you home. You're not well. I think you're going down with some bug or something. We should get Dr Whitewood to make sure you're ok."

Jana shook her head adamantly, "I'll be fine in a moment, trust me."

Matei looked at her sternly, putting a hand under her chin so that her eyes looking into his. But she still looked away, in fact she'd been avoiding his gaze for days. He knew something was wrong. Jana was unhappy about something, but she seemed to be hiding it from him, whatever it was. And he couldn't help feeling like he was to blame somehow.

"You're feverish," Matei said, "I'm taking you home and calling Dr Whitewood."

Jana shook her head but Matei already had an arm around her shoulders and she felt too ill to argue.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Katrina was standing behind the counter when Matei walked in half-carrying a very tired and sickly looking Jana. Katrina rushed towards them in concern as Matei helped Jana sit down at one of the booths. Jana rested her head on the table, letting out a small pained sigh which caused Matei to panic slightly.

"I'll call Dr Whitewood," Katrina said, grabbing her phone, "You help Jana upstairs."

Matei nodding carrying Jana towards the flat, she was still defiant though, and kept on saying no over and over again. Matei pushed opened the door of the flat just as Jana's legs lost their strength and she half collapsed on him. He pulled his unconscious girlfriend into his arms, trying to hold back tears. What on earth was going on? What was happening to his enaid cymar alffa?

He picked her up and carefully placed her on her bed, pulling the duvet up to cover her and tucking the blankets around her, making sure her pillows were angled right. He quickly grabbed a wash cloth from the bathroom, rinsing it under the cold water before hurriedly walking back in the direction of the bedroom.

That's when he saw it. A piece of crumbled up paper in the bin. But it was unmistakable.

Consent for medical testing- Protocol B- Patient's consent to perform in stage 3 trials.

Matei looked at the paperwork in horror, and burst out in an angry cry as he saw Jana's signature at the end of the paperwork. Why hadn't she talked to him about any of this? Then he saw the part about how it was strictly confidential. She had been trying to protect all of them... By taking part in an unsafe drugs trial.

He read on through the tears, myocardial infarction risk... That meant heart attacks... Risks of cerebrovascular events... A fancy way of saying strokes. Of course, Jana wouldn't know anything about any of this, and worse still, none of them were allowed to see the paperwork. She was being tricked and manipulated and coerced.

And Matei wasn't going to stand for it. As soon as she was better and the drug was safely out her system he was taking her to the wild pack. To warn them, and to keep Jana out of sight and protected, for as long as it would take for them to realise that Jana was important too and deserved to live.

He walked back in the bedroom, holding the paper in his hand and placing it down at the end of the bed, at least it would help Dr Whitewood, but with no Segolia what would they be able to do? Tracking down wolfblood doctors would be next to impossible now, and Dr Whitewood only knew so much, and Ceri... Well that might be an option but what would an ex-wild wolfblood healer know about human drugs.

Katrina raced upstairs, "I got Kay to cover for me. Dr Whitewood said she'd be here as soon as she can."

Matei let out a loud sigh, "Thank you."

"I've called TJ and Selina too," Katrina answered, "And Imara has been trying to contact a wolfblood doctor. Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing serious but just to be on the safe side."

Matei handed the paper to Katrina, afraid to meet her gaze.

"That meeting on Friday?" Katrina asked in shock, "Jana agreed to this then?"

Matei nodded, "I should have been there to stop her."

"It wasn't your fault you had that stupid social services meeting," Katrina replied, "Dear God, why would Jana agree to this? She wasn't coerced do you think, threatened in some way?"

"I think that's exactly what's happening," Matei replied, "They're threatening all of us and targeting Jana because they see her as the weakest link. Wait- what did you say about social services?"

"Oh, Jana mentioned that you had to cancel the month anniversary celebrations because of a social services meeting," Katrina replied, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

"What on earth?" Matei asked, "I didn't have a social services meeting! And Jana knew that! Do you think she did this to keep me away from the meeting?"

"Matei, calm down!" Katrina yelled at him.

"But why would she do that?" Matei continued anyway, "I'm her enaid cymar alffa, I thought she trusted me, loved me. Now one minute she's all over exuberantly happy, the next she's sad, but these hormone tests show Jana's all fine, so there's nothing there to suggest she's depressed or anything like that. I just don't understand anymore. Why all the lies? Why is Jana lying to me?"

"Matei, calm down!" Katrina yelled at him again, "Why does Jana ever lie? To protect the people she loves. She wanted to keep us safe and it all got out of hand."

Matei sighed again, "After the drug's out her system, we go to the wild pack. Lay low, that won't be able to find us, and I need to warn my sister and Alric."

Katrina nodded, "Definitely. I'm so sorry about all of this. This was all my fault."

"I'm sorry I yelled at you before," Matei said, "With the whole phone video incident. You couldn't have know what would happen."

Katrina smiled at Matei, "Thank you."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana woke up groggily and realised she was in the middle of a pillow fort. Pillows surrounded he on every side. Matei. He was responsible for this. Oh, how she loved him! He was the best enaid cymar alffa a wolfblood could wish for.

She watched as the door opened and TJ appeared, he smiled as he saw that Jana was awake.

"You look awful," TJ replied.

"Still better than you," Jana answered in a raspy voice.

TJ laughed, "Real cute, Jana."

Jana rolled her eyes, "So what's the verdict?"

"You'll be ok," TJ answered, "Just so long as you rest. Matei, on the other hand..."

"I must have scared him so much," Jana answered in a panicked voice, "Fainting like that. Oh gods, where is he?"

TJ sighed, "Matei's livid with you. Jana... I know you were trying to protect us... But how could you? Taking part in a secret drugs trial and not even telling us... Your pack... Or Matei, even?... Do you know there was a massive risk of you dying from that drug? Heart attacks, strokes, arteries bursting."

Jana bit her lip, tears in her eyes, "I didn't know about all of that. I didn't know what any of the terms meant. But the government guy, he said I couldn't show the paperwork to anyone and that it would be in our best interests if I went along with this."

"Jana," TJ said, "I think it's clear that their plan is to analyse your DNA and then exterminate you. Drugs trials like this... It's clear what's going on... We need to go to the wild pack... It's the only place we'll all be safe. We're leaving tomorrow morning. All of us, the whole pack..."

"But it will put them in danger!" Jana protested, "The humans will follow us."

"The humans are trying to kill you, Jana!" TJ answered, "The way I see it, we're five wolfbloods and several humans against the world, and only one of us knows how to use Eolas and Ancian. I wouldn't mind increasing our numbers a little more right now."

Jana nodded, "I guess, if we have no other choice. But we should leave late tonight."

"No way," TJ answered, "You need to rest. And Matei needs time to calm down."

"He surely can't be that mad, can he?" Jana asked, "I mean I know he will and has every right to hate my decision, it's just, Matei's always there for me, whatever happens."

"You went too far this time," TJ answered, "Not just with this, but the way you've been lying to him for weeks. One minute you're all happy to see him and the next you don't even want him to exist. Jana, I trust you, you're not just some- girl- who mucks around with guys' emotions. But you need to start telling the truth."

Jana bit her lip, tears forming in her eyes, "And... And... What if the truth... What if it just destroys everything?... And hurts everyone... And what if now was definitely not the time for all of that... Because the whole world is still falling apart..."

"Jana?" TJ asked shocked, "This isn't like you."

Jana shook her head, sobbing, "I'm not who you think I am. I'm not even who I thought I was. I'm just so lost and I don't know what to do. And I'm looking everywhere for an answer, for some kind of explanation for the way I feel. But there's just nothing and I can't help feeling there's something really wrong with me and that if I were to tell Matei the truth then it would hurt him, and destroy our relationship and that would break me... Because I couldn't live without Matei."

TJ took his alpha's hand, "Jana, Matei's not going to break up with you. Matei's not going to leave you."

"But you don't understand," Jana answered, "It might not even be his choice to make."


	4. Chapter 4

**19 years ago**

"I'll do better," Arianne said to Alric as she watched him walk away into the woodland. She ran after him, glad that she was one of the quickest in the pack. But it was no use, Alric wasn't calming down any time soon. Arianne brushed away a tear that was running down her cheek, this was an impossible situation and there was no point crying about it.

"Three times!" Alric yelled, spinning around quickly to face him wife, "Three times! None of them have survived for more than a few months. What have we done to be cursed so badly? We use all of the herbs, we constantly pray to the gods. What are we so cursed?"

"I promise I'll do more," Arianne replied, "I'll avoid fish, I'll rest more when I am..."

"No," Alric said in a melancholy tone, "I won't have you being treated like an invalid. And I won't have you messing around with your diet any more. I know how much you want to be a mother, Arianne, but it's not going to happen. Not to us."

Arianne let out a devastated cry, "It will! I will make it happen!"

Alric shook his head, "We have Meinir as our heir, and if, gods forbid, anything were to happen to her, then there's Aran. Even Hafren. Our pack is secure and safe, and will be for years to come. But it's clear that we are enable to have our own heir."

Arianne sobbed, "It's not true, I won't accept it."

Alric looked at his enaid cymar alffa with pain in his eyes, and hugged her. She rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed loudly. He stroked her hair gently. If only they could wish and it would happen just like that... He couldn't help imagining what their child would look like, he always imagine a little girl, she'd have Arianne's crazy scarlet hair and green eyes, and she would be brave, and stubborn and a true alpha at heart. She'd be as loving as her mother and as much of a leader as her father- no more.

Because even though Alric had been a leader for a year and a half now, he still felt like a failure, and was sure that some members of the pack were conspiring to overthrow him. And being unable to produce an heir- that was the final straw.

He needed that little red haired girl now.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Meinir ran towards the group of cubs, hearing her brother's crying and watching as he tried to scramble up a nearby tree. They were throwing stones at him, she realised with fear and immense anger as she confronted the leader, smacking him hard across the face before grabbing Aran and hugging him to her side as they made their way back to their parents' tent.

Meinir helped the young cub sit down and gave the group of cubs outside a threatening look before turning back to her brother. His head was bleeding from where he'd been hit but it wasn't severe. She gather a few herbs together and a cloth and some water.

"Why do they hate me so much?" Aran asked.

Meinir sighed, she knew why but it was hard to explain to a five year old, "Because they are jealous. Because of the fact that I'm the next in line."

Aran nodded, "But you want what's best for them, why can't they see that? And Hafren, she, she, she..."

"I know," Meinir said, dabbing gently at the wound, "She stopped being our friend the day the announcement was made. She hasn't even talk to me since."

"But she was like a second mummy to me," Aran said, "I wish there was a way to get her to be friends with us again. I miss her. She just watched as they..."

Meinir smiled as an idea formed in her mind, "There might be a way."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Ceri hugged Arianne as she sobbed loudly. It was hard watching her friend go through this again and again, and no matter how much she tried to reassure her that she was only fifteen and still very young nothing seemed to bring her any comfort this time around. It was as if Arianne had finally given up, and it didn't help that Alric had given up too.

"There's something wrong with me," Arianne sobbed, "Isn't there?"

"No," Ceri replied, "Don't think like that. There's nothing wrong with you. You've been doing everything right."

Arianne shook her head, "Then I don't understand... Why can't I..."

Ceri sniffed the air, "Meinir not now!"

Arianne jumped up quickly, grabbing the cub's arm and causing Meinir to look up, afraid.

"No," Arianne said, wiping away her tears, "Meinir is not a baby. She needs to understand."

Ceri looked at Arianne, "Are you being serious?"

Arianne nodded, "Meinir, you need to listen to me."

Meinir nodded, looking attentively at the older girl.

"I lost the baby," Arianne admitted with a pained gasp, "And there will not be any more babies, do you understand? You will be my heir, my only heir. That means we need to improve your lessons, and prepare you for the Rite of Twaltan."

Meinir looked at Arianne with both sympathy and confusion, "How do you know there won't be any more babies?"

Arianne laughed sadly, "When you're older... It will makes sense when you're older. But for noe promise me you'll look after yourself. Promise me."

Meinir nodded adamantly, "I was wondering Arianne, if I might ask you something."

Ceri growled, "Can you not see that our alpha female has enough to deal with right now."

Meinir jumped, as Ceri veined up.

"Ceri!" Arianne snapped, "Enough. Go on, Meinir."

"Hafren," Meinir said, "She's been upset that I'm the heir for over a year now. I was wondering if you could talk to her, both because it would be bad for there to be divisions in the pack and also, well, because, Aran misses her a lot. He wanted things to go back to what they used to be like and he's getting bullied a lot, because he's different from the other boy cubs. Hafren and I, we used to be a team, always fighting against the bullies and protecting Aran, and I'm just thinking that if we could protect Aran together then maybe we could protect the whole pack when we're older. Because Ceri is your second and I would like Hafren to be my second."

Arianne smiled, "A well thought out idea, Meinir. I understand how much Hafren means to you and Aran. In fact I've been worried about Aran for a little while, he is only five, but he is already signs that he might not be following the same path as many of the other male cubs. He needs protection. And as for working together to help the pack, it is a great idea. But we'll have to see if Hafren agrees."

"Do you think she will?" Meinir asked hopefully.

"I should think so."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
 **Present Day**

Meinir walked into the Kafe, it was just before closing time and there were group of teenagers packing away textbooks, hugging each other goodbye and calling their parents. She spotted the pack at their usual corner table. It was still weird that Emilia was living with the wild pack, and Meinir was excited to see her brother and the young fire-walker again.

Matei looked pale and miserable as he half heartedly played with the straw in his chocolate mocha drink. TJ and Selina were exchanging worried glances too as Katrina busied herself before changing the sign to closed just as the last customers left.

"So we're going to leave tonight," Katrina began, "Dr Whitewood gave Jana the all clear. Was nothing apart from dehydration and given that Jana's been able to drink water and hasn't needed and IV apparently she should be ok."

"Should," Matei said, "I'm not happy with that."

"Well it's either we hang around here," TJ began, "And we get picked off like flies or we go to the wild and get the support of the wild pack."

"And our parents?" Selina asked.

"Imara called them," Katrina replied, "They're going to join us later on, but at the moment they're sorting out a plan. Because, well, we can't live in the wild forever, and humans would come after us if my dad reported me as missing."

"Well just stay then," Matei said, "Problem solved."

TJ narrowed his eyes disapprovingly, "Matei, I know you're mad with Jana, but that isn't Katrina's fault."

Matei sighed, "Whatever, TJ. I'm not in the mood to be lectured."

"Katrina has to come with us," Meinir said, "The whole pack, and your parents, they all need to come with us. Otherwise they'll just use they to get information and to find us. We need to make sure there are no loose ends that could unravel on us."

"You don't need to worry about me blowing everything, Matei," Katrina replied, "I've already arranged with Kay and Kara to cover our shifts. I've told them that Jana and I are going to London for a few days."

"And what if people start asking where we are?" Matei asked, "You didn't really think this through did you. Not you, not Jana. Gods! Jana's not thinking at all about anything any more, and this decision to leave tonight- once again she didn't consult with any us. I'm sick of it, you know what I'm going to challenge Jana to Broideir because I'm not about to throw all of you under the bus by leaving the pack, or let Jana do that."

"Matei!" Meinir yelled at him, pinning him down as he was about to get up from his seat, "Show some respect! Jana was prepared to but her life in jeopardy to protect all of us and you react by being ungrateful?! I understand you're mad because she didn't tell you, but one, she wasn't allowed to show any of us, two, she was being manipulated, and three, this isn't about you. I don't care if you and Jana are having relationship drama, all I care about is that all of us are safe and happy, and I trust Jana to keep us safe rather than some moody adolescent cub."

Matei growled loudly, causing Katrina to jump in fear, "Back off Meinir! I want to do the best thing for all us just as much as you do. And I would be able to protect this pack."

"Meinir's right," Selina said, "We need Jana to be our alpha. Alric and the wild pack won't trust us if we overthrow Jana and no offence, but if you become alpha I'm out. You're too wound up right now."

"She lied to us!" Matei yelled, "And put herself in danger! She doesn't trust us at all- not with the medical trial, not with her getting ill after the drugs, and not with whatever else is going on right that's making her act so odd."

"Jana hasn't been acting odd," TJ said, "It must just be you."

Matei flashed his eyes at TJ, "What did you say?"

"Jana's been ok with all of us," TJ replied, "Yeah, she was upset earlier about something, wouldn't tell me anything at all. It wasn't related to anything to do with the trial. It seems that Jana's got a lot on her mind and the moment and she's worried you're not going to be there for her when she needs you most."

Matei let out a sighed in disbelief, "Of course I wouldn't abandon her. How could she think that?"

"Matei's always there for me, whatever happens," TJ replied, "That's what she told me, at least until you weren't there when she woke up earlier. I don't know what's going on with her but she's a mess right now, and I know this has been going on for a while. She thinks she's been lying to herself and everyone about something, and I think she's too afraid to admit whatever it is, and she's absolutely afraid that everything in her life is going to fall apart if she tells the truth."

"And that she will lose me in the process," Matei added, shaking his head in disbelief, "I need to talk to her. All of that about Broideir- I..."

"You'll rule by her side one day, Carriad," Meinir replied, "By her side, as her equal. No more than that. She will always be your alpha. Now I will speak to her first, Matei, because I think I might be able to help her a little."

"How?" Katrina asked, "What could you do to help this?"

Meinir smiled sadly, "I've handled something like this before."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana sobbed as she heard her pack arguing below. Matei threatening to overthrow her because he no longer trusted her, well this was just exactly how it was all going to turn out anyway. Of course, he'd never trust her again, the whole situation was set up that way so that he could never be comfortable trusting her if she ever told him the truth. She just wanted to disappear. No matter what happened she was going to lose Matei, and probably lose all of her friends as well. No matter what decision she made, everything seemed to be falling apart.

She heard a soft knock at the door and buried her head beneath the duvet. Meinir. Probably the last person she wanted to talk to because worst of all this wasn't out of Meinir's pay-grade in the slightest, she'd know exactly what Jana was going through and Jana didn't feel ready to tell the truth yet. The last thing wanted was to be forced into that.

Even if everything was falling apart anyway.

Meinir sat down next to the cub, pulling the duvet away from her face, and hugging the cub ferociously. Jana started to cry even more, just being glad that there was someone there who understood her pain.

"What are you afraid of Jana?" Meinir asked, "What are you afraid of, Carriad?"

Jana sniffed, and whispered in a croaky voice, "Myself."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei couldn't wait any longer and despite everyone's protests he raced up into the flat, and straight towards the bedroom but he hesitated at the door. Jana was crying so much, so so much, and he should be there to comfort her, but she was pushing him away. That was what it was, one minute she was happy and the next she was pushing him away. Because she didn't want him to discover this massive secret of hers.

He wouldn't let anything eat away at Jana like that. He wouldn't let anything destroy their bond.

"Jana," Meinir said, "You're so brave, carriad. You've done the hardest part, just telling me everything, and no matter what else happens, I'll support you. But you have to know that there's nothing wrong with you, this is all very very normal. A little unusual, but only a little, and still very very ok."

Jana let out a sob, "Thank you, May. I just needed to hear that, because I thought I was going insane and falling apart."

Matei bit his lip, his Jana? He wanted to go in there and pick her up and hug and kiss and her and protect her from the whole bad world, because the idea of her being in some much pain and doubting herself so much made Matei feeling feel physically sick.

"You can do this," Meinir said encouragingly as Jana let out a sad and nervous laugh.

He heard Jana breathing fast and nervously and trying to take deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Matei," Jana called out in a strained voice, "You can come in now."

Matei let out a sigh of relief as he opened the door, but his relief was only momentary. Jana looked up him with bright red eyes, her face pale and lines where the tears had run down her face. Her hair was even more messy that usual and she was shaking.

"Do you want me to stay?" Meinir asked.

Jana shook her head, before hugging the older girl in thanks.

"You can do this," Meinir repeated before leaving the young couple alone.

Matei let a few moments pass and saw that Jana had begun picking at her duvet and sobbing a little more again, afraid to meet his eyes.

"Jana," Matei said in a chocked voice, "Please, trust me."

Jana looked up at him with tear filled eyes, "I can understand why you'd want to be alpha. I've been making so terrible choices recently."

"I was mad," Matei replied, "I didn't mean it."

"You have every right to be mad at me," Jana answered.

"I could never be mad at you," Matei replied, "I was just scared that you would hurt yourself by doing something dangerous again. By disregarding yourself and your needs. You always put our pack first, but you constantly forget that you're a member of the pack too and it's ok to ask us to be strong for you and to help you."

Jana smiled sadly, "I know. And I need to tell you the truth."

Matei took her hand in his, squeezing it reassuringly.

"You have to believe me no matter how crazy this all sounds," Jana began, "Because I already feel like such a freak and I've been doubting what's really gone on for weeks, but now I know what I'm feeling is real and I still feel like that feeling is fragile so."

Matei looked at her with pained but sympathetic eyes, "Jana, of course I'd believe you. This is tearing you apart, I'm not about to around calling you anything apart from my enaid cymar alffa."

Jana smiled, before looking back at his with tear filled eyes, "Well. It all started that first night at the wild pack. When we... For the first time."

Matei nodded, "I hurt you, didn't I? Jana I'm so sorry."

Jana looked up at him, "No not at all. It's just, even before that I knew something was off. Like girls spend years and years obsessing over finding a boyfriend and getting to that stage but I was never interested in any of that. And then I met you and I just thought, maybe I was wrong, and I hadn't met the right person and that everything would be better because it was you and you're perfect."

Matei laughed, "I'm not perfect."

Jana smiled, "You are, you're the perfect enaid cymar alffa and that's why I felt that I had to... For you Matei... I had to give you that because even I wasn't sure if it was right for me... You deserve to be happy."

Matei looked up at Jana in horror, "So you're telling me that for the past three weeks we've been sleeping together and you've been hating every moment of it?"

Jana's face crumbled and she nodded, before Matei's arms wrapped around her as she sobbed loudly.

"But...but..." Jana continued, "Not because you were doing anything wrong. It's all just me, it's like it's supposed to be fireworks but for me there's just nothing and at times it even felt wrong. And I thought maybe there was something wrong with me, something wrong with my hormones, but then the test came back negative. And I thought maybe I was feeling the way I did because you were younger than me and I subconsciously telling myself that it was wrong, what we were doing. And every time I got my hopes up, thinking it was that, and that I could try again and I could fix this. But nothing I do ever fixes this, and that's because it doesn't need to be fixed, it's a part of me and always has been. Matei- I love every part of you- your personality and your looks- but I don't want us to ever do that again, please. It just feel so wrong when..."

Matei looked at her in shock, "Of course I'm not going to force you, Jesus, Jana, how could you think I'd be like that? I wish you'd said something earlier. Now I understand why you were happy one moment and sad the next. Why you've been avoiding looking me in the eye. Gods, I wish you'd told me earlier. I just feel so sick, thinking I put you through something like that when you didn't want to."

Jana put a finger to his lips, "It was always my decision, don't ever think you forced me into anything."

Matei sniffed, trying to hold back tears, "So what is it you want Jana?"

"Just holding hands, and kissing and hugging," Jana said, "That feels right and good to me. Nothing else."

Matei nodded, "Of course. But you have to tell me if it's ever too much. The last thing I want to do is hurt you."

Jana smiled, "I know, and I'm so sorry, because that isn't all of it. That was just the easy part, and I don't think that after hearing the next part that you'll want to be anywhere near me."

"Jana," Matei said worriedly, "I'm not going to abandon you."

"You have to know that I have never ever cheated on you," Jana began in a steady toned a voice as she could manage, "And that I absolutely love you more than anyone else in the world. It's just... I..."

"You have a crush on someone else?" Matei asked in shock.

"Please, please don't hate me," Jana replied, "I never wanted this to happen. I tried to deny as much as I could, but I was trapped and there was no way to be honest, even with myself for a long time without making a mess of everything. But I have to be honest because... I just can't go on like this. Matei, I absolutely love you, fy enaid cymar alffa, more than words can say, and this is just a stupid little crush but it opened my eyes to something that I didn't think was a part of me at all, and I'm just so scared..."

Matei winced at hearing the fear in her voice, he'd put it all together now, and honestly it didn't matter what Jana was, she was still his enaid cymar alffa, she still loved him and he still loved her.

"You're bisexual, aren't you?" Matei replied, "You don't have to be afraid of admitting it to me, I'm completely fine with it Jana. I love you, no matter what."

Jana burst out crying, loudly, "Biromantic. Biromantic asexual- that's what it's called. That's what I am. Gods, you don't know how long I've wanted to tell you."

Matei held out his arms and Jana threw herself into them, sobbing in relief that Matei wouldn't turn his back on her, but still afraid because she knew there was one more thing she needed to tell him.

Jana pulled back, as Matei took her hand again, lacing his fingers through hers. Jana smiled sadly.

"The girl I'm crushing on," Jana began.

"You don't have to tell me," Matei replied.

"Yes, I do," Jana replied, "But I promise, I've never ever and I'll never ever cheat on you. It's just hard to get over a crush when that person is-."

"In our pack," Matei filled in.

Jana nodded, "Yes."

Matei sighed, as awkward as that was, at least he knew it was someone who he could trust to not hurt him and Jana.

"And it's harder still," Jana continued, "When it's someone you live with."


	5. Chapter 5

**18 years ago**

"Do you know why today is so important?" Meinir asked as Aran stared up at her with wide and intrigued eyes.

He shook his head, "Is it my birthday again?"

Hafren laughed. Of course, beta wolves didn't know their exact birth days, only alpha cubs had birth charts drawn up. Whilst alpha cubs had a large ceremony to mark their birthdays, beta cubs shared the thirteen full moons. Aran was born three days before the second full moon after the winter solstice (when the wild wolfblood year began and ended), so he always celebrated his birthday on the second full moon.

"No, silly," Hafren teased, "Your birthday was last month."

"Although lucky you has your birthday next month," Aran grumbled.

"I hope you've got me something good," Hafren replied with an expectant look.

Aran nodded, staring at his feet awkwardly, "I'll make sure..."

"Well, anyway," Meinir interrupted, "Today is far far more important that birthdays, because you see you have to share birthdays, but you don't have to share this lesson with anyone."

Aran looked up with a mix of confusion and apprehension.

"And we'd rather you didn't because, well," Hafren said, "I don't fancy getting sent to Kronock and neither does Meinir."

"May," Aran began in a panicked voice.

Meinir hugged him to her side, crouching down to his level so that his eyes were level with hers- when did she get so tall? She was only supposed to be two years older than him, but she even taller than Hafren, who was already eleven.

"Today, little brother," Meinir began with a smile, "I'm going to teach you how to punch."

"I already know how to punch," Aran protested, flinging a fist out in front of his feebly, "See?"

"No," Meinir said, demonstrating to him, "Like this."

She formed a first, thumb on the outside, and Aran saw the muscles in Meinir's arm tense up, then she struck, quickly and forcefully, hitting Hafren in the harm.

"Gods, Meinir!" the elder girl shrieked, "I thought we were going to find some cushions to practice with, not use me instead!"

Aran giggled, "Show me!"

Meinir ruffled his hair, earning a growl from the young cub.

"What is all of this?" Alric said in a menacing voice, earning worried looks from the cubs, as he came running in the clearing, "Why are you yelling? Don't you know that Arianne is sleeping?"

"Sorry... Sorry, my alpha," Aran stuttered and stumbled, not daring to meet Alric's eyes.

Alric let out a sigh, "I can hardly blame you Aran, there's more door-mouse in you than wolf. Run along and play with Owen, and don't let me find you messing around with the herbs again, understood?"

Aran nodded, before running off to find his friend.

"And as for you Hafren and Meinir," Alric began, "Meinir, you are our heir, you should act better, and Hafren as Meinir's second, and the elder cub- almost on the brink of your transformations!- you should already know better."

Meinir bowed in submission, "I'm sorry, my alpha."

Hafren followed suit, repeating Meinir's words.

Alric nodded, and was about to walk off before pondering something for a second, "What exactly were you up to?"

"I was teaching Aran how to defend himself," Meinir explained, "He's been getting bullied again."

Alric looked at the young cub thoughtfully, although only ten years her senior and really only just out of cub-hood himself, Alric towered over all of the pack and intimidated most of the them.

"Show me," Alric commanded.

"I was teaching him how to punch," Meinir continued, demonstrating how she made a fist and extended her arm.

"Not the tree!" Alric suddenly yelled, "Me, punch me!"

Meinir looked up in shock, "But... But... Your my alpha."

"Yes, I am full aware of that," Alric replied dryly.

"I can't," Meinir protested, "It would be grossly disrespectful."

"Not as much as disobeying a direct command," Alric reminded her, "Now, do as I say?"

Meinir sighed, before moving to stand in the best position, without trying to think about it she tensed and punched Alric, perhaps a little more forcefully than she had intended. She looked up at him with a fearful and apologetic look.

Alric looked contemplative, before turning to the cub, "Just as I thought. Come with me, Meinir. I have a proposition to make."

Hafren and Meinir shared a confused and fearful look.

"And Hafren," Alric said, turning back the other cub, "If your mother says you're to help her with the laundry this afternoon, you help. No skiving anymore, understood? Now run along."

Hafren nodded, with a small relieved sigh, "Yes, alpha." Before darting in the tree, her long dark hair flowing behind her.

"Now," Alric said, somewhat to himself, as he walked towards Arianne's tent, "Where were we?"

Meinir followed behind him as they entered the tent. Inside Arianne was curled up in bed, furs surrounding her- more than Meinir had even seen before, and she was surrounded by pack made cushions. Above her hung a dream-catcher, and some weaponry. In the corner stood a small table decorated with various bowls and tools, and various herbs, both dried and fresh.

Arianne smiled sleepily as she spotted her enaid cymar alffa and her heir. She motioned for them to sit at the end of the bed, just before Ceri came into the tent with some more fresh herbs, bowing slightly to her alpha and beginning to work at the herb table.

"We have some news," Alric began, "I've been waiting some weeks to tell the pack, and I will still wait some more because it is still early days and things have not been going very well at all, but there is hope."

"Oh, Alric," Arianne began, "You're talking around in circles, and things have certainly been unusual but no real cause for concern. Like I've said, both our mothers have said, and Ceri has said many times, this time it's different. The baby will survive and be healthy and happy and be a wonderful alpha, and I know it."

Alric sighed, "Arianne, please be careful to not let your mind run away. Those past times, it took so long for you to recover."

Arianne rolled her eyes, placing a hand over her stomach, which was still flat, just, she would start showing any day now, "She's already so much bigger than the others, and they say the first three months are critical."

"She?" Meinir asked in excitement.

"Not again," Alric replied, exasperated, "What did I tell you about consulting the astrologers? What if they told the whole pack?"

"They'd never betray my trust," Arianne replied defiantly, "And how could you even accuse Meinir and Hafren's mothers of such a thing? I'd trust them with my life!"

"Arianne," Alric begged, "Please, be calm."

"Our Jana will be fine," Arianne replied, "Just fine, like all of the women in our families."

"Jana?" Meinir asked, "It's a nice name."

"It was my grandmother's name," Arianne explained, "She was German, not Welsh. It's surprising how far wolfblood's can travel."

"Especially considering how much your grandmother hated getting her paws dirty," Alric answered, "I could never envision her swimming the English Sea."

"You could never envision her doing anything," Arianne protested, "She died when you were five. Anyway, we didn't drag Meinir here to hear us bickering? Do you think she'll be up to the task?"

"Are you bringing the rite forward?" Meinir asked.

"No, the rite is a matter for another time," Alric replied, forgiving that the cub had spoken out of turn but understanding that Meinir and Arianne's relationship was more relaxed that the normal relationship between an alpha and it's subordinates. Much like him and Gerwyn...

"We want you train Jana how to fight," Arianne explained, "Once she is old enough, we've watched you, you're naturally skilled."

"And so is Aran," Alric added, "A little on the weak side, but I'll make sure to invite him to alpha's table inside of giving him the scraps the other cubs get. He'll be strong in no time."

Meinir nodded, "I am honoured and Aran will be too."

"He'll be stuttering for days," Alric said with a grin, "He needs to get used to being around nobility. Ay, he might not be like you Meinir, not so good at social climbing, but one day he could be an alpha too."

"He'd never leave this pack," Meinir replied, "He loves you all too much."

Arianne grinned, "We'd never force him to leave. It's just seven years isn't so much, is it really? And if Ceri is having a girl too, twin girls I believe? Well then your brother is the next in line by a long mile."

Meinir nodded, "I'll train him and I'll train Jana, I won't let you down."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

 **Present Day**

Matei grabbed the can of whipped cream out of the fridge just as Katrina walked out of her bedroom and into the living room.

"Good morning," Matei said to her, just as the kettle signalled that it had finished boiling, "Do you want some coffee?"

"I don't drink coffee usually," Katrina replied, "But go on, it's going to be a long day driving."

"I'm glad you're ok with my staying over," Matei replied.

"Of course!" Katrina replied, "I mean, Jana really needs your support right now. I don't know exactly what's going on but the more she's around you the happier and safer she is so..."

"Start planning the wedding reception before or after breakfast?" Matei asked with a smile.

Jana appeared at her bedroom door, looking extremely tired and fumbling with her fluffy dressing gown.

"Ah, breakfast," Matei said with a little laugh, "Always works."

Jana shook her head before sitting down on the edge of the sofa. Matei passed a cup of coffee to both of the girls, before sitting down next to Jana, who lay her head on Matei's shoulder, yawning.

"Imara said she'd be over at nine," Katrina said, "So we have an hour and a half."

"And Selina?" Matei asked.

"Her parents have fled to Cornwall," Jana replied, "They have friends there. I know TJ will be devastated, but Selina and her parents are just not cut out for living in the wild. And, as bad as it sounds, the pack isn't really comfortable with taking in people who don't believe in some kind of Paganism."

"I thought Pagans were liberals?" Matei asked in confused.

"Humans, yes, mostly," Jana answered, "But wild wolfbloods, you've seen what they're like. Some are good, some are old fashioned, and some are just downright nasty."

"Wouldn't be talking about me now would you?" A familiar voice asked, and Jana turned suddenly to see Meinir standing in the doorway.

"Kay and Kara let me in," Meinir explain, eyeing the kettle on the kitchen counter with a half-interested half-concerned gaze, "And you should really invest in a door that can't be unlocked with hairpins."

Katrina let out a shock sigh, "Good morning to you too, Meinir."

Meinir smiled, "So is everyone looking forward to our little journey?"

Matei nodded excitedly, "Mr Jeffries has agreed to join us, and he's bringing the first draft of his new book for me to read."

"I'm standing by my decision to remain asleep for at least ninety percent of the journey," Jana replied groggily.

Katrina smiled, "I wish I could. Didn't Dr Whitewood say she was coming over to check you were ok to travel?"

Jana nodded, "Ceri's here already, I can tell. She'll check on me too, if they both say it's ok, then we'll go today. But I can't see why not, I'm just tired not sick."

"It will be a long walk," Matei said, "Three hours and uphill at that. But we'll all help you."

Jana smiled, holding Matei's hand, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Emilia stood nervously behind the older cubs, trying to calm herself down, this should have been easy for her, but she still felt herself growing more and more nervous with each moment. Sure, when she'd been playing pranks on Aran or Cadwr she hadn't really thought about the danger, but having time to think about it had set her nerves on fire.

Aran gave her a reassuring pat on the back, "Don't worry, Emilia. I know for a fact that at least half of these cubs here are scared too and even Meinir was petrified."

"Really?" Emilia asked in shock, "I thought Meinir wasn't afraid of anything."

"She might be my sister," Aran replied, "But she's never been a god, perhaps more of a devil but never a god."

Emilia laughed, "I miss her. I'm glad they'll be arriving soon, but I wish I knew when. Then I'd hunt for them."

"Patience, carriad," Aran said to her, "When they arrive the whole pack will hunt, and Jana's pack too. And remember Matei hates dead birds, little cat."

Emilia had earnt the nickname of the cat after she'd repeatedly brought back pheasants and geese in a big to show the pack how reliable she could be, and to stop any gossip going around that she was too human to live with them. Of course a cat comparison was drawn very quickly, and the nickname had stuck from then on in.

Cadwr grinned as he landed from the tree, gracefully, before his sister sneaked up on him, causing him to jump and howl in fear.

Gwyn laughed, "How many times have I told you to focus and stop staring at Emilia?"

Emilia blushed looking at the ground, it didn't help that Aran just laughed, and when Emilia looked up she could see that Cadwr was blushing too.

"You're up next, Cat," Hafren called out as Emilia looked up to Aran for reassurance, he nodded, pushing her gently towards the bottom of the tree. Emilia was just clambering up over the roots when the smell hit her.

She let out a massive grin as Hafren rolled her eyes before nodding to Emilia. Emilia, Aran, Cadwr and Gwyn shared a knowing look before transforming and darting off into the distance.

Emilia could see them, all standing tall and proud and watched as her brother transformed and ran to meet her. They sniffed at each other, noting how each other's scents has changed and wolf-hugged, before Emilia pounced on his playfully earning an excited growl in response.

Emilia and Matei transformed at the same time, Emilia flinging herself into his arms, as they both smiled.

"Been enjoying yourself?" Matei asked.

Emilia nodded, "But I missed you, a lot. All of you."

Jana smiled, and Emilia noticed that her ex-alpha looked incredibly tired, even more so than Katrina who would have no doubt struggled with the walk.

"I missed you too," Matei said, tears forming in his eyes, "But we're here to stay, for a while at least, it's not safe for us in the human world."

"Why?" Emilia asked in confusion, "Matei, what's happened?"

"The humans know about wolfbloods," Jana replied solemnly.


	6. Chapter 6

**17 years ago**

The nursery tent had never been so busy. There were three cubs, all within six months of each and all very hungry and restless as the midsummer heat turned the tent into a semi-furnace. The loudest cub was the smallest one, just a few days old but she still howled like a banshee. Meinir bounced the cub up and down on her knee, trying to calm her down by singing a lullaby (not that her mother had ever sung lullabies but she'd heard Arianne plenty of times). But it was no use, the baby kept on crying and fidgeting and worse still, wouldn't take any milk at all.

Meinir sighed in frustration, "Gods, Jana, don't muck us around like this, you're either going to be heir now or not. You stole the Rite of Twaltan and the post of alpha's heir right from under my muzzle the very least you can do now is survive long enough to be the next alpha!"

Baby Jana grizzled a little before looking up at Meinir with her wide emerald eyes full of curiosity. For a moment it looked as if the baby was half smiling (because Jana wasn't old enough to full smile) and Meinir, although only ten and still massively grossed out by babies, couldn't help but think that Jana was adorable with her large eyes and thin scarlet curls- adorable and exactly like her mother. Although there was a lot of her father's stubbornness there too...

Alric walked into the tent, looking worried and gave Meinir a reassuring smile before the girl passed the baby to her father. Alric looked at Jana lovingly as the baby appeared for the first time in about two days to be settling down to sleep.

"She'll sleep in the alpha's tent tonight," Alric announced, "It's bigger, more air. This tent is too stuffy. I'll see that Rhydian and Alais are moved into more suitable accommodation."

As if on cue Rhydian let out a little gurgle and smiled up at his alpha. Alric rolled his eyes, "That one inherited too much of Gerwyn's personality and not nearly enough of Ceri's. Not like you Jana, eh? Just right, you are."

Jana looked up her father drowsily before resting her head against his arm and falling asleep peacefully.

Alric let out a sigh, "That's better. We all worry about her Meinir. Born one month early and trying to cope with what is the warmest summer we've had many years. I swear the humans have weather machines, that would explain those little metal birds and the flashing lights in the sky at night, and what about those white lines in the sky- see they're making clouds when they want to already! But Jana will be fine, she's strong, she'll survive."

Meinir nodded, "I know she will. And I'm happy for you and Arianne."

"But not happy about missing on the opportunity to perform the rite?" Alric added, and Meinir could only look at the ground for fear of revealing too much and committing an act of treason.

Alric chuckled, "We've know how competitive you were for years. How you trained to be the best cub, always got the best meat for you and Aran... I've seen the scars on the cubs that weren't so clever. You're an alpha at heart too Meinir, but I have a feeling that your castle lies far outside of the wild wood."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Hafren paced nervously as Owen watched intently.

"It should have been me," Hafren replied, "For every reason under the sun, it should have been me. How dare he? How dare they all, just pretend?"

"Jana is weak," Owen replied, "Not everything is set in stone."

"And even if she was to die?" Hafren asked, "It still changes nothing."

"Not for now," Owen corrected, "It doesn't change anything for now."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
 **Present Day**

Jana rolled her eyes as the wild pack healers fussed over her, but what was even worse was the way that Ceri and her father were acting.

"It was just a couple of humans," Jana reassured her father, "And now they're gone. And the boy, Tyler, he seemed to have a lot on his plate... It sounds like they just need to be left to fix things."

"Well I disagree," Hafren objected, "We should chase their sorry hides back to the city."

"I'm with Jana on this," Matei said with a yawn as he and Emilia shared a plate of uncooked meat.

"I don't listen to delta wolves," Hafren replied.

Alric growled, "Hafren enough! Matei is Jana's enaid cymar alffa. Emphasis on the alffa part! And I don't happen to listen to delta wolves either, usually."

Hafren made to protest but understand what was hanging unsaid in the air between them, she just nodded and ran out of the tent.

"Wow," TJ said appearing at the door seconds later, "Nice digs, Jana. I wish I had my own tent but I had to share with Owen and Alric."

Jana laughed, "And you thought you were getting a break from being a third wheel, huh?"

TJ sighed, "You don't have any idea just how insufferable you and Matei can be."

Jana tutted shaking her head.

"I'm not going to even call you out on that," Alric added with a smile as he noted his daughter's outraged look, "But this thing- third wheel?- what is it? It's just I've heard Emilia using the term before..."

"Dad," Jana interrupted, "Remember what I said about urban dictionary?"

Matei, Emilia and TJ shared a worried and surprised look.

Alric nodded, "I see the human world has corrupted all of you, allowing to you to partake in such vile things as... Sexting and dare I even say it... Emojis. Some good country air and raw meat will sort all of that out."

Jana grinned as Alric passed her a large bowl.

"Venison!" Jana screeched in happiness.

"Told you she acts like a princess," TJ whispered to the siblings.

"She should," Emilia corrected him, in a hush tone, "She's our alpha's heir."

Alric laughed at his daughter, "I've heard it's hard to come by in the human world. Though not as hard to come by as raw-men. And raw-men with saw sauce, or raw-men with prawn seasoning."

Jana looked in confusion and horror for a moment before understanding her father's confusion, "Ramen, Dad. Ramen, it's noodles."

But Alric still looked confused, "Well whatever it is it's wrong on every level. And you need to eat up and heal fast, Jana. You look exhausted, and I know you, you could walk six hour hikes with no problem and still have energy to play deer and wolf all over our territory until the early hours of the morning- and that was when you were just five."

Jana grinned, then looked at the hole in her jeans were the bullet had injured her. Fortunately it was just scrapped, and not like last time... Trying to operate out here... She would likely be very ill for infections. But it had only needed a few stitches and a little pain medication and it was all fine. Although Jana's favourite pair of jeans were ruined.

Katrina appeared in the doorway of the tent, holding a large plastic container and her bag, "Ramen noodles curry flavour for anyone who wants some. And there's some bread too."

"Thanks," TJ said, "I'm sorry, Alric, but there's no way I can stomach raw meat."

Alric nodded, "Fair enough. Not everyone's cut out for being an alpha."

"Dad!" Jana yelled, "Are you being serious?"

"There is some truth in the saying," Alric replied defensively, "The wolves that best tolerate raw meat are those with the strongest ability to fight infections and to produce healthy cubs. The others..."

"Well he's girlfriend is Cornwall, so we don't have to worry about all of that," Matei added.

TJ rolled his eyes, shaking his head, "Shut up, Matei!"

Alric looked angry for a second, and then realising it was nothing more than teenager banter, turned back to his daughter, kneeling by her side.

"We have much to discuss," Alric began, "But it's too late tonight, and you must rest... With Matei."

Katrina almost chocked on her noodles, "Erm, excuse me?!"

"Dad, I," Jana began, "Matei and I we're..."

"There's no need to play coy," Alric began, "And you have responsibilities Jana. You may be tame now, and I support you in that, but there's no saying that in the due course of time one of yours and Matei's cubs won't end up like our little Cat here- Emilia, I mean- and come back to live with us as the next heir. And well for that to happen..."

"Dad, we need to talk," Jana said.

"And we will," Alric reassured her, "In the morning, you need to conserve your energy and then rest, carriad. Good night, Jana." Alric kissed Jana's forehead, before leaving, Jana calling out a sleepy good night to him.

TJ was trying to contain his laughter whilst Matei looked like he was glowing with embarrassment.

"Anyone want any French bread," Katrina said.

"I'm all set," Jana replied, waving a piece of thinly cut venison at her flatmate.

"Please tell me that's not raw," Katrina said with a look of horror.

Jana nodded, "And it is so good!"

"Don't worry, mum brought dessert," TJ replied, "Not that these two will have much time for that."

Matei growled venomously, "Don't you dare. This would be bad enough if Jana..."

Jana gave him a piercing look, telling him in no uncertain terms to be quiet.

"If Jana what?" Katrina asked.

"Erm, erm," Matei replied, "Had remembered the what do you call thems?"

Katrina giggled, "Seriously? I swear there'll be cubs running around the flat this time next year."

Jana rolled her eyes, "Matei, seriously, was that all you could think of?"

Her pack gave her a confused look.

"You aren't actually already pregnant, are you?" Katrina asked, "That's what you need to talk to your father about, wasn't it?"

Ceri rolled her eyes, "Jana's not pregnant. Nor will she be any time soon I can imagine. I'm going to find Gerwyn before he... Well, you can imagine... Make sure you get enough sleep."

Jana nodded, as Ceri gave her sympathetic smile before walking out into the cool sunset.

"Actually it's something I should have told you a while ago," Jana began shakily, Matei moving to place a supportive arm around her shoulder.

"You're getting married!" Emilia shrieked, "Oh my God, congratulations!"

Jana motioned for the cub to be quiet, "Gods, never say that around the wild pack, else they'll be marrying me off tomorrow. No Matei and I are not engaged, in fact, it's not something we've discussed."

"Well after everything's sorted about the big reveal," Emilia said, "You two really should get married."

Jana rolled her eyes, "Look, I'm not pregnant, and Matei and I aren't getting married, at least not any time soon. This is about me, just me. See, I'm not like normal girls."

Katrina looked up at the bow and arrows set and several dream-catchers hanging above Jana's makeshift bed and the fur rugs surrounding all of them- Jana was definitely not like normal girls.

"I'm..." Jana began, biting her lip.

"Jana it's ok," TJ reassured her, "You don't have to tell us, if you don't want to. Unless it's something like, I killed some guy and I'm hiding his dismembered body in your sleeping bag- then I'd really appreciate the gesture."

Jana gave him a withering look and a sigh, "No, I haven't killed anyone. I'm... Well... I... I'm a biromantic asexual. There I said it."

"What on earth does that mean?" TJ said, "Biromantic asexual. Oh asexual, like with plants, I mean I always knew you were a little bananas but..."

"TJ, shut up!" Emilia commanded, "Asexuals, they're people that don't experience sexual attraction towards anyone or anything."

"I think the problems just Matei," TJ said, "If he stopped shopping at H and M so much."

Matei rolled his eyes, "I don't. It's Amanda. And shut up, at least I have a girlfriend, a real one. That's not inflatable or living half way across the country."

"Uh, Matei," Jana said, "Harsh much! But Emilia, you are right, and it doesn't mean that I don't find Matei physically and emotionally attractive, it's just that I have no desire too..."

"Na, no way," TJ replied, "There's no way you two are still-."

"And what about all those nights you snuck Matei in?" Katrina asked.

"It is true, Matei and I, we," Jana replied, gesturing wildly, "Look, this is really awkward. Basically it doesn't happen anymore, it won't happen again, enough info?"

"Far too much," Emilia replied.

"And the biromantic part?" Katrina asked, "Is that like with bisexuals but only in a romantic way?"

Jana nodded, "Just like that."

"So wait, do you have a crush on a girl?" TJ teased, "I mean there's nothing wrong if you do, I'm totally cool with all of this- you're still our crazy alpha. It's just how would you know if your biromantic if you haven't crushed on a girl?"

Jana sighed, "You can just tell."

"Yeah, stop being such an idiot, TJ," Emilia added, but giving Jana a quick knowing glance, "Why don't you and Katrina go and get those biscuits? Matei stole all of the good meat, again."

"Did not," Matei complained.

TJ and Katrina nodded before getting up. Katrina handed the bag to Jana.

"Not sure what they were getting for you," Katrina replied, "And I know you told me not to worry but well, I hope it's ok. And I'm totally cool with you being a biromanticy alphasexual- or well, you know."

Jana grinned, "Thanks, Katrina."

Katrina smiled, "No problem."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"It's Katrina, isn't it?" Emilia asked.

Jana nodded, "Not a word to anybody. Nothing is going to happen. She doesn't know and won't find out and I'm getting over it because I love Matei and I would never ever hurt him."

Matei gave Jana a supportive smile as he pulled the furs around her, noticing how cold Jana must be now the temperature outside had dropped. Jana rested her head on Matei's shoulder.

"Shall we see what Katrina packed?" Matei asked, before opening the bag, "Well, several bags of fizzy worms."

"Katrina's already outdoing you in the gifts department," Emilia teased her brother.

Matei frowned, "I buy Jana coffees all the time."

"It doesn't work like that," Emilia said, "Guys buy girls coffee all the time. You have to do something special like a surprise date or present or something like that."

"Yes, Agony Aunty Emilia," Matei replied, with a mocking look, "And I'll check my horoscope to make sure mercury isn't in retrograde too, shall I?"

"You should, I mean, don't you?" Jana asked in shock, "Mercury in retrograde is terrible! Matei I thought you'd be more careful, you know how much I love you."

"I still have so much to learn," Emilia said under her breath.

"Well, what else?" Matei continued, "Oh, my, dear, god!"

Jana looked in sheer terror as Matei pulled out what appeared at first to be a silk red handkerchief but later turned out to be an extremely thin bright red silk nightgown with fur on the straps and a design of a black wolf on the front with the words 'I'm on the hunt tonight, prepare for my howling..."

Emilia and Matei shared a terrified look as Jana burst out laughing.

"Oh, Katrina," Jana said with a smile, "What? She didn't know any better."

"You're only saying that because you have a crush on her," Matei answered.

"You'll just have to borrow one of Matei's tops," Emilia suggested.

"Why?" Jana asked, "I'll just sleep in what I'm wearing now."

Emilia shook her head, "Every couple in every movie and TV show ever shared T-shirts, it's romantic."

Jana shook her head, "Well, Matei. You can wear this if you really want to."

Matei looked mortified, "I'm scared to look in case she bought something for me too. Although I have to wonder if I should feel threatened by Katrina buying you racy lingerie."

Jana laughed, "I love you Matei, I might have a crush on Katrina, but it's passing, and I still absolutely love you."

"Don't be such a tease, Jana," Matei said, "You know I..."

"Still here," Emilia said waving, "But I'm going to go because I have a feeling I don't want to know how far an asexual can go before stopping at second base."

Jana smiled, "Whatever. Just go and find the others."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Katrina was quiet as she crept out of the clearing and into the more shaded area of the pack's territory, watching Hafren and Meinir talk just a little distance away from the firelight. She didn't notice Aran and Owen until she'd almost walked into them.

"Are you ok, Katrina?" Aran asked in concern, "The woods aren't safe this late at night. You're better off staying close to camp."

"I..." Katrina began.

"Whatever it is," Aran began, "You can trust us."


	7. Chapter 7

Jana woke up boiling hot and lethargically pushed the tons of fur blankets off of her. She looked at her leg and was happy to see that it wasn't infected, and that instead the cause of her 'fever' was nothing more than an overprotective boyfriend.

Jana smiled as she saw that Matei was still fast asleep, his head resting on his arm, his hair messy and of course, he was still wearing his scarf and coat. Matei could fall asleep pretty fast, and they were both exhausted after the hike the day before.

Jana was just about to get up and get some water when she heard a crash outside. She panicked grabbing Matei's arm and the young alpha woke up groggily, just as another crash occurred.

Matei wrapped his arms around Jana, trying to reassure her that everything was ok, but inside he was worried about Jana and Emilia and the rest of the pack- what if the humans were back and attacking them?

Moments later, he was able to let out a sigh of relief as Aran came crashing into their tent, Emilia trailing behind him, although his sister did look a little worried.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Aran demanded angrily, staring intensely at Jana.

She looked at him angrily, "Well good morning too you to, Aran. What on earth makes you think you can just come barging into my tent at this time of the morning?"

"Only the fact that your father is being pressured into permanently exiling you," Aran replied, "Or worse. Half the pack is demanding that you be exterminated and that Emilia is exiled too."

Matei jumped up, attempting to hug his worried sister but she brushed him off.

"I don't need you to fight for me," Emilia said, "Alric has final say here and after what happened with the humans... Well I can't say anything expect that if it happens this way I'd feel absolutely miserable."

"If what happens?" Matei asked, "Emilia what are you on about?"

"Now is not the time!" Aran snapped, "Jana, your father has asked for you."

Jana jumped up a little too quickly, wobbling as her injured leg struggled to hold her weight initially but afterward approaching the exit of the tent with a limp.

"Oh, and one last thing," Aran announced suddenly.

"Yes?" Jana asked, still a little irritated.

"Don't ever trust that blonde girl," Aran replied venomously.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Alric was facing away from the doorway, waiting anxiously for his daughter. How could she do something like this? He didn't know what was worse- how the pack was reacting to the news, or the fact that Jana had trusted her pack with this most important news? Matei and Emilia- well Alric would trust those two with his life after they way that they'd stood by his family no matter what. As for TJ, well as much as the cub was too sure of himself for his own good, Alric had to admit that he could trust him- he only wished that Selina had come with him to keep him under control, because between him and Cadwr there had been plenty of mischief recently. As for Imara, well Alric wasn't entirely sure of her, and as for the two human adults- well they had protected him from the Kincaid mad man- so no matter how mad they seemed and how unusual their traditions were he still trust them.

But there were still members of Jana's human pack that couldn't be trusted to stand behind her no matter what. After all it was a betrayal that had ended up revealing their secret to all of the humans. And a betrayal centering around the same individual...

"Aran said you wanted to see me?" Jana asked, head slightly bowed as her father turned to face her, she didn't dare to glance up, he might be her father- but he was also her alpha here.

"You've turned out more like your mother that I realised," Alric began, "She was headstrong too. Always disappointing people by making unpopular decisions. She had a fascination with the human world too- most of the pack is too young to clearly remember her, but you weren't the first one to discuss the idea of reading or human medicine. After the crash, I despised humans, for taking her away for me, I strictly banned anything human, but especially books and human magazines... Because it always reminded me of your mother's ideas and how we'd spend every evening arguing about them. I was so scared at first to let you go to the human world, I thought I would loose you forever, and I almost did through my own idiocy, but you have never really left us have you?"

"I never will," Jana promised her father, making eye contact with him.

Alric smiled, "That decision might be out of my hands. You see, I have to make this clear, as much as I struggle to understand..., you are still my daughter, and I love you. Nothing will ever change that. However, after last night's events, when Katrina went about telling the whole pack, I have been in a difficult situation of trying to keep the pack from attacking you. It may well be a good idea for you and your pack to leave..."

"No!" Jana exclaimed.

Alric hugged his daughter, "It's just the way things are. The pack needs an heir producing alpha- heir producing. It doesn't have anything against wolfbloods who are not, how did Emilia put it, 'straight', at least now. Arianne made sure of that, after seeing little Aran being bullied- but you see now how people leave him and Owen to it."

"Why did you want me to marry him then?" Jana demanded, "If alpha's need to be heir producing?"

Alric sighed, "I trusted no one else to protect you and, Aran would not have failed in his duties no matter what. No matter his personal feelings. But now I see that Matei is truly your enaid cymar alffa."

"So if I just ignored what I'm feeling and did my duty," Jana pondered, "That would fix everything?"

"Maybe," Alric pondered, "For the pack it would. But you are my daughter, I couldn't live with the idea of forcing you to live like that.. You would only end up despising all of us... And you wouldn't be you anymore... You'd be broken. And it was wrong of me to think Aran should be made to live like that, I made a terrible mistake there."

"Then what can I do?" Jana asked in despair.

"Nothing," Alric said, "Except for perhaps finding somewhere better to live in the human world, after all of the trouble that human girl has caused for you- first filming you, and then this... If she had kept her mouth shut, after all- what on earth is wrong with you crushing on her? You are her alpha, she answers to you, she should do as you will. And she is fully aware that you are devoted to Matei, as we all are. Why she should feel embarrassed by it! Honestly!, and humans have the nerve to say that are more civilised than us- the very nerve, we have no racism, and very little homophobia. No religious wars, no bombs or guns- at least to the best of my knowledge, Meinir never acquired any."

Jana sighed, "I just want to do something. What is going to happen now?"

"There will be a meeting to decide on your fate," Alric began, "I will have the final vote, of course, so you will still be allowed to stay here. But the worst thing would be a coup. Which is why... It had been very difficult... But you have made your home in the human world now... And it would be wrong to keep on nagging you about ruling this pack when the wild is no longer your home."

"A new heir?" Jana asked in shock.

Alric nodded, "Yes, a new heir. One who has experienced the best of the human world, but also the worst, so will carry on your reforms. One who has proved to be loyal, and from a trustworthy family. Royalty in a way too- and blessed in a way that very few ever will be..."

"Emilia?" Jana asked.

Alric nodded, "She is doing very well in the wild. And I have reason to believe that she may have also found her enaid cymar alffa... But it very early days, she and him are still very young... When they are your age we will no more for certain."

Jana looked at her father with wide eyes as the information hit her, "Emilia and Cadwr. But Cadwr is an orphaned delta cub who only wants to be a hunter, and Emilia... She had dreams of being a healer."

"Emilia will be a good heir," Alric reassured her, "There is no reason why she can't also learn the healing arts, but she has the qualities of a good leader too. As for Cadwr, he has Aran and I to tutor him, and that sister of his, she is very protective. I have put the proposal to the council of elders this morning, and although they are still debating they didn't seem to hate the idea. We just have to wait and see what happens. But I will never let them hurt you, carriad."

Jana smiled at her father, hugging him, "I will never abandon this pack or you."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Katrina sat guiltily staring at the ground, no one would talk to her, instead they were just staring at her curiously and with disgust . Jana might not be the heir producing heir they had wished for... But someone who betrayed their alpha... That was even worse... And to be near a traitor. Well wolfblood superstition said that being around a traitor would turn you into a traitor too, as if you were catching some kind of highly infectious disease.

"If I had my way," a tall dark haired girl said, looking at Katrina menacingly, "You'd already be dead."

Katrina jumped before standing up unsteadily, holding the tree branch in front of her. The other wolfbloods laughed, seeming to be enjoying the show.

"Worse than the cubs," Hafren taunted, "Worse than the little baby cubs, she is. She has nothing in her head. But the rules are clear, once a fight has been signalled, it must never be back out of..."

Katrina was shaking as she looked down at the branch in her hand, "Fight? No, I don't want to fight you."

"Then why grab the branch?" Hafren replied, mockingly, "Alric's word is law, he said that if we hurt you, we hurt him... But of course, after the way you disgraced his daughter, I would say that no longer applies to you, especially if you are threatening us."

"Just leave me alone," Katrina said, in horror.

The other wolfbloods smiled, standing behind Hafren. There were a good thirty or so of them.

"Who thinks I should teach her a lesson?" Hafren said, and the crowd howled.

Katrina jumped back just as the girl transformed, landing inches away from her, she tripped and suddenly the wolf was facing her, looking aggressive, it's muzzle inches away from her face...

"JANA!" Katrina yelled.


	8. Chapter 8

The scarlet hair wolf jumped in front of obsidian haired one, teeth bared and snarling. She pounced on the larger wolf, her fang sinking into it's shoulder and it gave out an involuntary yelp. But the battle was not one, the larger wolf swung a paw at the younger wolf, knocking her flying, although the red haired wolf managed to regain her balance in a heartbeat. They circled each other, but it was clear that the red haired wolf was in the losing position, she was already limping as the swipe had made deep cuts along her front right limb. But neither of them were backing down. Or rather neither of them had the intention of backing down...

Not a moment too soon, two dark haired wolves came sprinting into the clearing. Katrina recognised them as Alric and Aran. They darted to Jana's side and she gave them a look of gratitude, before they all growled at Hafren menacingly. The older girl was forced to surrender and changed back into human form, remaining in a bowing position. Moments later Jana, Aran and Alric transformed back too, and Jana adopted what Katrina referred to as her 'alpha pose', head held him, fire in her eyes, her scarlet curls flowing down her back like a flame. When Jana looked like that she reminded everyone that she was not just the odd girl who'd arrived all of sudden in a small rural village and only knew one person. She wasn't just a girl who seemed more feral than human at times. She was royalty, and she knew she was royal and wasn't afraid of showing it when it needed to be shown. And maybe that was why Jana was so good at putting people like Imara, and Victoria Sweeney and Kincaid in their place, Katrina thought, because Jana was an alpha by birth whereas all of them had no real true claim.

"Explain yourself," Alric demanded venomously.

"It was just a game that got out of hand," Hafren replied defensively.

"That's not the way I heard it," Jana answered, "And might I remind you that the intent to fight rule, does not apply to individuals who are defending themselves, or might I add to anyone in my pack! You fight them, or even try to, and I swear I will tear every traitor from limb to limb, understood?"

Hafren and the other wolfbloods looked at Jana with a mix of fear and obedience before bowing before her.

"I second my daughter's motion," Alric added, "The council has also convened and reached a decision. Jana's home is here for as long as she wishes it to be. It is also her pack's home and they will be fully welcome here- human or wolfblood. The elders have also agreed to the following- Matei will be trained by Ceri, as it appears he wishes to be a human healer and it is past time, especially following the incident with Maddoc, that we started to integrate human and wolfblood medicine. I know many of you will have your concerns, which is why I have chosen Matei and no one else- as my daughter's enaid cymar alffa he can be absolutely trusted. Secondly, the elders and I have agreed that as Jana's home is now in the human world I need a new heir, and given that I refuse to marry again I have chosen from the cubs..."

There was mumbling between the pack members who were both excited and apprehensive. To Jana's relief most of them were happy for Matei to learn wolfblood medicine, if only to stop him nagging them constantly about Emilia's training and if she was being kept safe and happy. But the new heir... Well Jana had thought that they weren't particular fond of her but it seemed they were struggling to imagine anyone apart from her as their next alpha...

"You won't be the heir anymore?" Katrina asked in a trembling voice.

Jana nodded, "But my father's plan is brilliant, and the best option. I am glad that the elders have agreed to it. Katrina, you should find TJ and the others, this isn't really for humans."

Katrina nodded, "I suppose I'll hear the news later anyway. I just thought that since I was a part of your pack..."

Jana shook her head, "Wildies are big on tradition. You don't want to make some of them even angrier than they already are about having humans here."

"I'm so sorry," Katrina said, "I should never have said what I did."

Jana sighed not daring to meet her eyes, "I'm assuming you've already learnt your lesson by nearly been torn apart. Like I've said, I'm Matei's enaid cymar alffa, I stand by him, so there doesn't need to be any awkwardness between us. But you are going to have to prove I can still trust you."

Katrina nodded, "I swear I will. I'll go and find the others."

Jana smiled, "I'll get back to work."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"On a scale from zero to nuclear explosion," Emilia began as she walked through the ferns that littered the forest floors, "How mad is Jana going to be when she finds out we 'borrowed' her bow and arrow set?"

"What is nuclear explosion?" Cadwr asked in confusion, "Oh, never mind! Yes, Jana will probably want to kill us. But you are the next heir, and next Samhain you'll take the Rite of Twaltan and prove yourself a worthy future alpha, like Jana did. And you'll definitely pass the rite, if you can walk through fire then the rite will be like running under a full moon."

"What happens during the rite?" Emilia asked.

Cadwr shrugged, "It depends on the alpha. I wasn't here when Jana went through the rite but from what Aran told me it was difficult. Jana's never been very strong, she was born too early and during the hottest summer in wolfblood history and then she was always sickly as a baby- no one expected her live long enough to take the rite, it usually happens when you're ten if you're a born heir. Meinir was heir until then- and she never really got over it until she lost her wolf."

"I wish I knew more," Emilia admitted, "I mean is it hunting? Or spending a night alone in the forest? Or fighting?"

Cadwr smiled, "It's up to Alric to decide. But it won't be that difficult. See Jana might be the greatest thing in his life, but back when she was ten he still put duty before family. With you however... Well there's your brother, and the fact that him and Jana are enaid cymar alffa. He wouldn't dare risk overstepping the mark too much otherwise he'd been turned into dog food."

Emilia smiled, "I just feel really unprepared. Especially when it comes to fighting, I'm hopeless!"

"No you're not," Cadwr reassured her, "Aran is hopeless. I mean him and Meinir trained Jana, but really it was all Meinir. If you want to learn how to fight then ask Jana. I'd also suggest Hafren if she didn't have such a grudge against heirs."

Emilia frowned, "But I thought all wolfbloods had to be loyal to their alphas and heirs."

Cadwr grinned, "In theory, always. In practice, good luck with that!"

Emilia grinned, staring around the forest in front of her. For some reason she really wanted to make this hunt count, but not just for her pack, who she wanted to prove her worth to, but for Cadwr, for some reason that Emilia couldn't understand. She wanted to impress him, she wanted him to see that she was a strong wild wolfblood.

It was during this daydreaming that Emilia tripped over her boots, landing face first into a large fern tree, and out of the corner of her eye she saw a small green creature slither by. She jumped up immediately, yelling, "SNAKE!"

Cadwr grinned, carefully picking up the creature- which was an adder, and using his wolfblood instincts to calm it.

"You're crazy," Emilia replied in disbelief, "What if it bit you?"

Cadwr shook his head, "Be the wild wood. When you are, all creatures live in harmony. Humans, they fret and worry about such things, because they can never be a part of this, they can't have our Eolas, they can't merge their minds with the earth in the way that we do. We are as much a part of this snake and it is a part of us."

Emilia nodded in understanding, "I'm still not going anywhere near it."

Cadwr grinned, "You're such a girl. You don't like mud, you're afraid of snakes and spiders."

"And so what if I am?" Emilia demanded defiantly.

Cadwr shrugged, "I never said there was anything wrong with that."

Emilia paused for thought for a second, and Cadwr stared at her in confusion.

"Is everything ok?" Cadwr asked her, "We can go back..."

Emilia shook her head, "I was just thinking about my brother and...Jana."

Cadwr nodded, "Alric will try to get them to marry before they leave, but no doubt Jana will always find some way to back out it. I know humans don't marry until they are in their twenties or thirties, but by wolfblood standards Jana's really really old to still be unmarried, like ancient."

Emilia smiled, "No, I didn't mean it like that... I mean... How did they know they loved each other?"

Cadwr frowned, "I dunno. I guess they just woke up one morning and thought oh, we like each other and that was that. They were destined to meet anyway, enaid cymar alffas always are."

"Do you think you'll ever find your enaid cymar alffa?" Emilia asked tentatively.

Cadwr nodded, "Everyone does in the end. You just have to believe."

"I believe," Emilia replied with a smile.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"I hate babies!" TJ yelled as the young cub he was trying to get to sleep grizzled and spewed up again.

Matei laughed, before picking up the young cub, who settled immediately.

TJ rolled his eyes, "Typical! And it's not like you even need to know how to look after kids, given that Jana and you will never have children of course."

Matei paused for a moment, in shock, "I'd never thought of it like that. I guess we won't. Not unless we adopted. But I mean we're not even in our twenties, or married, it's all a little early to worrying about."

"Well according to Alric," TJ began, "You should have ordered your wedding tuxedo yesterday."

"Wait?" Matei asked, "What? No, Jana would have never agreeded! Not without talking to me about it first."

"You were busy in lessons," TJ began, "Jana would have told you after but then all the women in the pack descending on her, bombarding her with wedding plans. I guess this was the deal- if Alric doesn't get to see his daughter made alpha, then he should at least get to see her wedding."

Jana came racing into the tent, "Matei, I-..."

"Don't worry," Matei said, "TJ already told me. And well, it is a bit sooner than I would have liked, but yes, I agree."

Jana burst out crying with joy, and flung herself into Matei's arms, "I thought you would be so mad."

Matei shook his head, "Not with you enaid cymar alffa. I could never be mad at you! And well anyway, we are technically married, as Emilia and Cadwr keep on telling me."

Jana grinned, "I can't stay long, otherwise there will be trouble. But promise me you'll join me for dinner tonight. And, oh, if you see Emilia, tell her that she needs to be more subtle and that I've already noticed."

Matei and TJ frowned, in confusion, before sighing.

"Girls," TJ said.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Battle of the Seloglians," Emilia said reading over her brother's shoulder, "What on earth?"

"It is amazing!" Matei began, "It is so so good, you have to read it."

Emilia shook her head, "It's only a biography."

"You have no appreciation for good fiction," Matei complained.

"So you and Jana are getting married?" Emilia asked.

Matei nodded, "It would appear so. I'm actually quite excited."

Emilia grinned, "Good. You deserve to be happy."

Matei smiled, "So do you little sister. What's worrying you?"

Emilia sighed, "How do you know if someone is your enaid cymar alffa or not?"

Matei smiled, "I don't know. I guess you spend a lot of time with them and then one day you wake up and your realise that you're never going to be alone because you're never going to leave that person and they'll never leave you and you love them so much that you can't describe it."

Emilia grinned.

"Why? Do you think you've found that person?" Matei asked.

Emilia nodded, "Yeah, I think so."


	9. Chapter 9

"But you promised! You promised you'd teach me how to fight," Emilia complained as she sat at the breakfast table in her ex-alpha's tent. The bow and arrow set had been returned to it's proper place earlier that morning, but the cubs hadn't escaped a stern lecture from Jana and Alric.

Matei smiled, looking up from his herbology notes and looking at Jana with an amused look.

"I'm sorry," Jana said, "But the wedding's in three days time and there's still so much I need to prepare. I need to go into town to call your foster parents, and try to arrange from Selina to be here. And sort out the cake and the dress and everything."

"I thought the pack was sorting out the dress?" Katrina asked in confusion.

"They were," Jana corrected, "But the only fabric they have is bright yellow. Like neon yellow."

Katrina looked horrified, "At least bring me along to help."

Jana nodded, "TJ? Do you want to join us?"

TJ nodded exuberantly, "Of course! You two have no idea how hard it is to live without wi-fi for a week."

Jana smiled, "I coped just fine for fourteen years."

"And what about you Matei?" Katrina asked.

Matei didn't reply instead he was completely engrossed in reading his book until Emilia hit him.

"Ouch!" Matei yelled, "What was that for?! Oh, sorry. What was the question again?"

"But don't you think it's a bit of a risk," Emilia began, "I mean you came here to escape the humans who were trying to kill you, and now you just want to go into town for a dress and a cake!"

"It's not just that," Jana replied, "The pack is running low on human medicine for it's supplies and well- I can't tell you why we're also going."

Matei frowned, but Jana just smiled smugly.

"Oh, right," Matei said in sudden realisation, "And is ok if I come with you? It's just I'm running low on reading material."

"You brought five books!" TJ yelled.

"Yeah, I know I should have brought more," Matei replied.

Jana shook her head in disbelief, "Yeah, sure. But I'm not spending hours in book shops."

"And we need to go to the supermarket to get more human food," Katrina added, "For all of us, as it seems no one is eating wild food at the moment."

"Apart from me," Jana grumbled, pointing to her arm, which was still healing from the fight with Hafren the day before, "I'm practically being force-fed red meat."

"But red meat helps you heal," Emilia argued, "Every wolfblood knows that!"

"Really?" Katrina asked in disbelief.

"It's more of a myth than a reality," Jana replied, "But you know what wildies are like."

"Well I absolutely have to disagree," a voice said and seconds later Aran appeared in the doorway, "What on earth is that?!"

Jana looked at the bowl in front of her, "Lucky charms."

TJ laughed, "Lucky charms! Seriously, Jana?"

Jana nodded, "They're really good. And anyway I'm your alpha so I get to do whatever I like and you just have to put up with it."

Aran rolled his eyes, "Whatever, Jana. Anyway, we're ready to go."

"Good," Jana said, picking up a bottle.

Aran looked at her in horror.

"Why are you eating so much poisonous food?" Aran asked, "All those unnatural colours!"

Matei laughed, "It's just fruit smoothie, Aran."

Aran shook his head, "It's still an abomination."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"It's not like it's his first time in a car," TJ said as several pack members sniffed at the black landrover and bright pink van tentatively.

"You weren't there the last time," Jana replied, "Don't hate me for saying but-"

"I know you're up to something," Emilia said, as walked towards them at a fast pace, furious, "What is going on? I'm not a little cub anymore. I'm the next heir."

"It's a surprise," Matei said, "Just a surprise."

"Ice cream?" Emilia guessed.

Matei smiled, "Much, much better than ice cream."

"So just to be clear," Aran began as he followed Katrina into the clearing where the car was parked, "I'm under no obligation to consumed any human food or beverages, but you would like me to try pizza."

Jana stared at Katrina in horror, "You can't do that to him! Pizza tastes melted."

TJ rolled his eyes, "You're only saying that because your favourite meat is venison. Pizza is beneath you."

Matei smiled, "Pizza isn't great. Foccaccia is better."

"I second that," Emilia added.

"Well I'm with Jana on her idea to introduce the wild pack to more of the human world," Katrina said, "And that means pizza hut."

Matei rolled his eyes, "At least they serve pasta."

"Well that's great," Jana said sarcastically.

"And unlimited ice cream," TJ added.

"What?" Jana asked in shock, "Ok, this is no longer a terrible idea."

Katrina laughed, "Onwards Team Kafe!"

Matei rolled his eyes, "Again?"

"What is team Kafe?" Aran asked.

"You don't want to know," Matei replied.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"That will be three pound forty please," the cashier said as the brown haired tried to find the right change- two of the silver hexagon ones, one of the massive ones, and one of smaller golden ones.

"I still need thirty nine pence," the cashier said, and the girl tried not get flustered.

"Here," another girl said, paying before grabbing the tray and heading towards the back of the restaurant.

"Jana," Meinir said in greeting.

"I thought we said we'd meet by the train station entrance," Jana said, as Meinir began to devour the Big Mac burger she'd bought.

"I could only find the exit," Meinir complained, "Don't give me that look. I am coping. I've even found a job."

"What?" Jana asked in surprise, "That's amazing!"

"Well even as human I still am capable of a lot," Meinir reminded the red haired girl, "It's at Liam's dad's old farm, it's a paint-ball centre now."

"Mindless violence," Jana pondered, "It suits you. And what about the art design course."

Meinir sighed, "Not too good. But English and Maths are better. I have a penchant for insulting poetry and I'm good at business ventures."

Jana nodded, taking a sip of her coffee, "Good to hear."

"I know what you're thinking," Meinir began, "What about long term? Where am I going to live? How am I going to fit in with the rest of human society? But don't worry, I've got this. And anyway, how are things with you?"

"Good, actually," Jana began, "Apart from humans trying to kill me. And I'm also getting married in three days, so I'm barely getting time to sleep at the moment."

Meinir laughed, "You and Matei, getting married? I can't believe you're all ground up now. And what about Emilia and Aran? How are they?"

"Aran's still finding it difficult to cope," Jana admitted, "He's just with the others at the supermarket, I thought if he got to know more about the human world, he'd feel better about you living here now. And as for Emilia, well you ought to know, she's going to be the new heir."

"Jana, what did you do?" Meinir asked with a combination of worry and pride.

"Oh, nothing," Jana said, "I mean the whole pack found out about you-know-what, but my Dad's ok with it, and I've gotten a lot of advice from Aran and Owen about how to handle nasty comments. Hafren's the only one who's causing any problems, as per usual."

"As per usual," Meinir added, "So Emilia will be the next alpha- she seems a little young for all of this?"

"Oh, trust me," Jana began, "She's more than rising to the occasion- she's already stolen my bow and arrow set. In fact she's really enjoying her time in the wild, missing Matei terribly of course, but..."

"What?" Meinir asked.

"I think she might have found her enaid cymar alffa," Jana said, "That's what she told Matei."

"She's thirteen," Meinir added, "She should still be too young to know."

"That's what I thought," Jana added, "I mean this time last year I thought Rhydian was my enaid cymar alffa but now I know what it really feels like to find your soulmate and..."

Meinir nodded, "I'll talk to her. She needs a mentor. And if I can stay healthy for long enough I might be able to stay the winter, hopefully."

Jana shook her, "No, it will be too dangerous. I know you want to help, but... Trust my father and Aran."

Meinir smiled, "I trust your father. But Aran... He's a wimp, can't even fight properly. No, I will stay this winter."

"Just be careful," Jana said.

"I should say the same to you," Meinir said, gesturing to Jana's arm, "Fight with Hafren?"

"She tried to turn Katrina into dog food," Jana explained, "After finding out about... And then Katrina picked up a stick to try and defend herself but Hafren thought it was a challenge. I got there before anything bad could happen."

Meinir shook her head in sadness, "Look, you need to know this, and I'll tell Emilia the same. But Hafren is dangerous, she gets dangerously jealous of heirs and alphas, and I wouldn't put it past her to try something. Her attach on Katrina, it could be divide and conquer, she used to fight that way in the past."

"My dad will keep things under control," Jana reassured her, "Which reminds me. We need to find the others."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"When I said dehydrated," Matei began, "I was thinking about something better than pot noodle."

TJ shrugged, "Well, we've bought enough rice and pasta. Sorry if I wanted something that tastes nice."

Aran took the container and turned it to look at the ingredients list, "I have no idea what it is in this...food... This is food, right? But I don't need to try it to know that it will taste terrible."

"How much fruit and veg do you think we'll be able to take back with us?" Katrina asked.

"Well it depends on if I start working on that freezer tonight or tomorrow," Matei said pointing to the page in his outdoor survival book.

"And remember we do have to carry everything back," TJ said, "For five hours."

Katrina sighed, "Why can't wildies invest in delivery?"

"Because most of us don't need potted noodles or..." Aran began, "Or mutated legumes."

"They're called baked beans," Katrina replied, "And anyway you liked the pizza, didn't you?"

"It was ok," Aran replied, "Still melted."

TJ rolled her eyes, "Can we at least get some chocolate?"

"And Ben and Jerry's ice cream," Matei replied, "Emilia made a list of all the things she wants us to buy for the wild pack to try- ice cream, chocolate, crisps, crispy pancakes... Wait there's more..."

TJ laughed, "Salad?"

"Not a chance," Matei added, "Although I'm wondering what we're going to do about food for the wedding."

"Hog roast," Aran replied, "It's about the only food that's acceptable to wild wolfbloods and tames, and humans."

"Until they learn to McDonalds," a familiar voice said, and Aran turned around quickly as Meinir hugged him exuberantly, "Did you miss me?"

"Miss you?" Aran began in shock, "Of course not! Do you know how peaceful everything's been without you there?"

Meinir thumped him, "Jana will be here in a minute, she's just with Ceri sorting out the dress. But I've been told to not say anything more."

Matei smiled, "What colour?"

"Which part of nothing don't you understand?" Meinir replied.

Matei rolled his eyes, "Ok, ok."

Jana and Ceri raced towards them, holding what looked like newspapers, worry evident on their faces.

"Jana?" Matei asked worriedly, pulling her into his arms,.

"They're going to start rounding up all the wolfbloods," Jana began, with tear stained eyes, "Sending them to these testing facilities. Because... Because... They think they can't be trusted, after we ran off like we did."

Matei cussed under his breath, "We have to stop this. There must be a way."

Jana nodded, "There's a conference. All these scientists are gathering in Rome to discuss how to carry out the research, if we can get there, try to stop them."

"How?" TJ asked, "How are you going to get there in time?"

Jana shrugged, "We just have to try."


	10. Chapter 10

Matei ran out of the taxi and towards the Kafe just as the sun was beginning to rise and the birds outside were starting to chirp loudly. His rucksack was heavy and he threw it down gladly on the doorstep before knocking three times.

They had come up with the knocking code since returning a few days before. The wild pack had decided to postpone the wedding until after their trip to Rome, and had also decided to move to a more rural location that they hadn't used in years. Meinir had decided to go back to Stoneybridge to avoid anyone becoming suspicious about her absence from work and college, but Aran had agreed to join her.

The door of the Kafe opened to reveal a tired looking Jana. She gave him a small smile before they dashed across the alley way to the land-rover parked a few yards away. They heard the doors unlock and seconds later jumped inside, slamming the doors just before Imara sped away.

"Were you seen?" she asked in a panicked tone but the cubs just shook their heads.

"I can't wait for this to all be over," Jana said with a sigh, feeling the weight of her falsified passport in her pocket, "No more being awake at all hours waiting for danger, no more fake IDs."

"They should trust us again if we come forward," Matei added, taking Jana's hand in his, "They want us really. If we give them that... Then they'll leave the others alone."

Imara nodded, "Just be careful ok."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana looked out of the narrow window of the plane, squinting as the sun blinded her.

They were going to take off in a few minutes, and were just travelling towards the run way. She felt sick, and held onto Matei's hand tightly. Jana had never been good with plane- it was the turning that got her, and the turbulence that was just awful too. But Matei, he had flown hundreds of times, in fact he was excited because they were travelling in one of the largest aeroplanes ever invented.

The journey to the airport had been a nightmare. They couldn't fly out of Newcastle because too many people would recognise them. So they'd had to travel all the way to Glasgow and wait until the following day to fly. It would give them a grand total of five hours to get from the airport to the conference. But it was all that they could do... They couldn't risk being discovered before hand.

Jana felt the engines rev below her as the captain turned them on to full power and let out a small whimper.

Matei leaned over to put a reassuring arm around her shoulders, and she rested her head on his chest just as the aeroplane began to race down the runway. She let out a frightened gasp as it left the ground before climbing quickly. When they made a sharp turn to the left, Jana grabbed onto Matei's jacket until her fingers were white.

Matei smiled, "It's all ok Jana. The journey's going to be fine."

Jana nodded, daring to take a quick look out of the window and then regretting it as the wing came up quickly.

"It's normal," Matei said, "It's nothing to worry about. You should try to sleep. You've been taking too many night shifts. I can keep guard for a while."

Jana nodded, snuggling closer to her boyfriend, and murmuring something that sounded like, that's a good idea.

Matei looked out of the window at the clouds above and below him, and began to apprehensively count down the hours until they'd been facing the people who wanted them dead.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"We apologize for the slight turbulence on today's flight," the captain said over the tannoy, "This is caused by a cold front moving from west to east. Our expected time of arrival will be fifteen minutes later than usual. Please do not worry, the plane is more the capable of handling this weather."

Jana let out a small scream as they feel through another 'air pocket' and Matei rubbed the small of her back.

"I've been on planes in much worse weather," he told her, "We'll be ok. Just another forty minutes and we'll be there."

Jana let out a sigh, "So long! You should sleep too."

"I think it might be ok for us both to sleep," Matei said.

Jana nodded, "Just this once."

The snuggled closely, sharing a blanket and tried to relax.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

There was a loud boom, causing Matei and Jana to jump a little in their seats.

"That wasn't turbulence," Jana said with a horrified voice, "I think.. I think..."

"It might just be an engine or something," Matei said, as calmly as he could, although horror was seeping into his voice, "They deal with that kind of thing all the time."

Jana nodded, trying to reassure herself.

"Dear passengers," the captain began over the tannoy, "Please remain calm we will be diverting to Grenoble Airport where we will be making an emergency landing."

Jana looked up at Matei with panicked eyes.

"Everything will be ok," Matei said, "Just follow what the crew says and you'll be fine. I'm right here, right here."

Jana nodded, before hugging Matei tightly, tears soaking his shirt.

Suddenly there was a strange sound from below them and the aeroplane seemed to rock slightly before dipping sharply to the left.

Matei looked at Jana with a concerned look as a loud creaking noise sounded from below them, he grabbed her hand with a look of confusion and utter fear as he gaze out of the window and he saw a large sheet of metal falling from the aircraft and tumbling towards the ground.

An aircrash- this was the worst thing that any wolfblood could experience. In Matei's mind he saw it all- everything that was going to happen next and pulled Jana towards him, kissing her desperately, tears streaming down in his face as she cried loudly. He couldn't cope with his own fear, let alone with Jana's either.

Emilia, he thought. What would happen to her?

He tried his best not to think about it, but he couldn't help wondering what the world would be like once they were gone. He felt his heart explode with fear at the idea- no this couldn't be it, this couldn't, they had so much more to live for, so much more to do.

He felt the nose of the plane dip until it was going straight down, he heard the yells of the other passengers around him.

Jana grabbed at him, "MATEI!"

"It's going to be ok, Jana," Matei tried to reassure her, but it was a stupid thing to say, he knew enough about planes to know that they weren't going to be walking out of this.

And what could have caused it? Matei thought to himself, as the ground outside appeared closer and closer, What did it matter? It would be all over soon.

"BRACE!" one of the attendant yelled repetitively and Matei did just that, helping Jana as well as she was too distraught to think clearly.

He grabbed for her hand below the seat and she held onto his hand desperately in return.

"Please," Jana begged, "Please don't leave me, fy enaid cymar alffa. I love you, I love you..."

"Jana," Matei said in a desperate whispered, "Stay with me, fy enaid cymar alffa. I love you, don't ever leave me."

Jana sobbed loudly, trembling as Matei took a deep breath, counting down the seconds to impact.

Then it hit.

A massive thud that shook everything. The metal of the plane's body sheared clean off and flying into the forest area around them, Matei and Jana were flung forwards crashing into the chairs in front of them with incredible force and knocking Jana unconscious. Then their chairs came unstuck from the floor with the force and were thrown out of the main body of the aeroplane, a good ten or so feet away from it.

Matei, who had closed his eyes on impact, opened them now. His heart was racing fast as he saw the large fireball coming from the tail end of the plane. He struggled to breath as the air became toxic with the fumes of the petrol. Fumbling with his seat belt he managed to free himself, before looking at Jana. No, no, she couldn't be!

"JANA!" He yelled in shock, as he placed a hand along her neck to try and find a pulse, "You said your weren't ever going to leave me, fy enaid cymar alffa! Jana, I need you, I can't survive without you."

Matei looked back as a loud boom signalled an explosion. Fortunately it was only small, but he knew they needed to get away from there. His fear was building with every second that he was near the fire, every instinct of his wolfblood self telling him that he was in grave danger, the worst kind of danger a wolfblood could ever experience.

He grabbed Jana out of her seat and carefully pulled her into his arms before running at full wolf speed away from the burning wreckage. He used his scarf as a sort of filter to try to stop himself from breathing in the toxic fumes and tried to cover Jana's face with it too to offer some protection- because he had to hope that she was still breathing, that she was still alive.

When he was good few miles away from the wreckage, but still close enough to see the tower of blackened smoke rising from it, he placed Jana carefully down on the ground and allowed himself to survey the damage. He for the most part was ok, his head was bleeding, and quite badly, but scalp wounds always did and he knew it wasn't a severe cut. He could that his ankle was broken too, from the way that his left foot throbbed painfully. He suspected he had some broken ribs too because it hurt to breath. But none of that mattered to him at all, he would heal, he would live.

Jana on the other hand...

There were cuts all over her from where the glass and metal had shattered, her head wasn't bleeding but he could already see a massive bump forming on her forehead and it was beginning to look angry and purple. That was a good sign he thought, if blood was flowing to the area then that meant the body's immune response was still working, and that meant that Jana had to still be alive.

He listened carefully for her heartbeat and placed a hand carefully on her chest. It was as it should be, if a little fast from the inevitable shock. Her breathing was fast, too fast however and she was pale too. He didn't want to, but he was forced to understand just how bad Jana's situation was. She clearly in shock, and not just the emotional kind, and there was probably some internal bleeding.

Matei let out a loud howl. Jana would die if they weren't found soon, and things weren't looking too good for him either. He had been to hopeful in his self-diagnosis it appeared, he'd just been in a rush to make sure that Jana was going to be ok.

Pulling his torn coat over the both of them, he lay down next to her.

Waiting for wherever fate would take them.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"We interrupt this broadcast to report that tragic accident has occurred," the news reporter said, "A British Airways Airbus 380 has crashed in the French Alps, and it is suspected that all on board have died. Our foreign correspondents will be arriving in the area shortly. It is unknown as to what may have caused the crash but the aviation authorities know that the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers in the area at roughly six pm local time. A search and rescue team has been deployed to the area, however reports are suggesting that from the extent of the damage there will be few if any survivors."

TJ looked up at Katrina in horror.

"Jana and Matei were flying out today," Katrina began in a scared and pained voice, "To Rome."

"Do you know what flight?" TJ asked, equally as panicked.

Katrina shook her head, "I'll go upstairs, Jana will have saved it on her email."

"I'm coming too," TJ replied, before dashing up the stairs and into the flat.

Katrina had already grabbed Jana's laptop from where it was sitting on the was sobbing loudly in utter terror.

"What... What about passwords?" Katrina asked, "I don't know any of her passwords."

"Here," TJ said, taking the computer from her, "We set them all to password, because Jana couldn't remember the ones she'd chosen. Might not be the safest but..."

"It's paid off now," Katrina answered, watching as TJ loaded the internet browser, and waited for the painstakingly slow internet in the flat to work it's magic.

"They're probably ok, Katrina," TJ tried to reassure his friend, "They should be in Rome already."

"I hope so," Katrina answered, "But I don't know when they were supposed to land, and Jana was supposed to text me to say they'd arrived safely. Even if she forgot, Matei wouldn't..."

TJ sighed, it certainly wasn't looking good.

He typed in the address for Jana's email account, knowing she had it automatically logged in and waited. A few seconds later the account opened along with two unread emails- one from Imara, wishing them a safe journey, and the other from the airline they were flying with.

'Dear Sir/Madam,

We are writing with the greatest condolences to inform that the BA123 Airbus 380 flight from Newcastle Airport to Rome has suffered an unexplained crash in the French Alps area just outside of Grenoble. We are awaiting further reports.

Please call the number below to speak to one of our advisers who are waiting on standby to assist you.

Please understand that search and rescue and emergency services personnel have been deployed to the area and that we are doing all we can to ensure the best possible outcome.'

Katrina trembled in shock, crying out in fear, "They... They..."

TJ shook his head, trying to hold back tears. Not Matei and Jana, not after everything they'd been through. Not his alphas. He tried not to think of his memories of them. The amount of times he'd yelled at Matei for reading too much, and the endless banter between them. The way that Jana would always argue with him and the way that she'd only be open around those she really trusted, and how long it had taken to earn that trust but how worth it it had been.

Katrina sobbed loudly and all TJ could do was hug her. He felt so powerless.

He heard footsteps on the stairs and saw as Kay appeared at the door, Kara just behind her.

"You've got to see this," Kay said, between exasperated breaths.

Katrina and TJ raced out of the flat and into the Kafe where the TV was still on, a small group of customers still gathered, watching it intently.

"We can now confirm that two survivors have been found," the news report continued, "And images are showing that they were found five or so miles from the main wreckage. Both of them are in a critical condition and have been moved to a nearby hospital in Grenoble where they are receiving specialist treatment for their injuries."

"There have been survivors," Kara said, "No one was supposed to walk away from this."

Katrina let out a sigh, but she couldn't let herself fall into foolish hope, she knew that more people had died in the plane crash than had escaped.

"We can confirm however that at least two hundred people have been confirmed as dead," the news reporter said gravely, "With many more suspected to also be dead or seriously injured. British Airways is in the process of contacting the families of those affected and promises that it will carry out a full investigation into how this tragic accident occurred. And... We've just been told now that one of our reporters is filming at the nearby Grenoble Hospital where the two young individuals have just arrived. And more shockingly they have been identified as two of the wolfbloods that appeared at the Newcastle press conference only a few months ago. This of course will cause many to question if this was a deliberate attack and if so why this occurred?"

"Matei and Jana!" Katrina yelled in relief, before seeing the pictures of two individuals arriving at the hospital. They both looked gravely injured and Katrina and TJ both felt their hearts drop.

TJ grabbed his phone, calling his mum, "Mum, what should we do?"


	11. Chapter 11

Carrie kicked at the rock wall with a frustrated sigh as her boss drummed his fingers on the table in irritation and deep thought. She had failed. She had no idea how- there should have been no way for them to survive. But trust luck to be on their side. Everyone had died except them two and four other humans.

Holly stared at her with wide scared eyes, "Why? Why would you do something like this Carrie? So many people...?"

"Collateral damage," the man replied, "Do you know how many people would have died if we didn't attack? True, Matei and Jana are still alive but they will not be a threat to us any more, they are under government control and all the governments of the world want them gone. Problem solved."

"I can't believe you'd be so heartless," Holly said venomously, "And as for you Carrie. TJ was your friend, Matei and Jana are his friends. I can't believe you'd hurt them like this."

"The wolf," Carrie said, "It does terrible things. It has to be stopped. Every single one of them has to be stopped."

Holly shook her head, "The book. Have you even read it? They are not the enemy."

"That's what they'd like you to think," the sandy-haired man began, "It's all propaganda of course. You remember how TJ attacked you, how Carrie's wolf nearly destroyed her- and killed Matei's parents. Now do you understand why we did it? We are at war, Holly. A war against the wolfbloods, and our soldiers are everywhere, in the governments, in the hospitals, in the courts of law. Until wolfbloods are eliminated we will not be safe."

"Kincaid's right," Carrie added, smiling at her boss, "He was the only one who could see sense. Holly, you have to trust us, what I did was horrific, but there was no other option. And now we have to finish what we started."

Holly shook her head, "I wish I'd never agreed to help you find Kincaid. If I'd known that there was no rehabilitation programme... But I'm going to stay here, try to knock some sense into the both of you."

Kincaid let out a menacing laugh, "I remember being naive too, before my foster brother's first transformation, thinking it was so cool that I had this super powerful family- I wasn't even jealous of them, because they made me feel like I belonged, my foster parents at least, if not my brother. Then my brother transformed and nearly killed me... And I knew the truth, wolfbloods were vicious monsters just waiting to explode and destroy everyone around them."

Carrie nodded exuberantly, "See. Kincaid's the only one who understands. All the other wolfbloods think there's something wrong with me, but now I don't feel so wrong, so alone. And I just want them to understand, that being a wolfblood is wrong and it will only hurt them."

"Exactly," Kincaid replied, "It's time to finish what I started."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Emilia picked up the book from where it lay open on top of the table used for mixing herbs. She tried not to worry about her brother and his fiancée but seeing Matei's notebook just made their absence feel even harder to bare. Emilia was still being kept in the dark about what was going on in the outside world- all she knew was that her old pack had been forced to return instantly and Aran had gone with them.

All of the adults in the wild pack seemed to be on edge too and Alric had announced that they were moving camp. To a new territory right in the middle of the Scottish Highlands- and least a good two hundred miles from where they were now.

Emilia grimaced at the idea. It would take her old pack at least two days to reach them- one for driving and a good fourteen hours hiking up steep mountainsides. Katrina and the other humans probably wouldn't be able to make it. The elders had concerns that even some of their cubs would struggle with the journey.

Emilia jumped as Cadwr put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and gazed at the book that she was holding.

Emilia rolled her eyes, smiling, "I told you to stop doing that."

"And I told you you were distracted too often," Cadwr argued,

Emilia sighed, "I have a lot to think about. A lot of things that are more important than Hafren trying to hurt me."

Cadwr frowned, "They are your old pack, Emilia. Their lives are in the human world, you've decided that yours is here."

Emilia sighed again, feeling tears sting her eyes, "I'm just a cub, Cadwr. I can barely hold it together without my brother here. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can be the heir, because sometimes I wonder if being a wild wolf is even right for me."

Cadwr nodded understandingly, "I had the same thoughts too. When Kincaid kidnapped the pack, well we didn't get to see much of the human world, but he allowed me and my sister to go shopping with him once. I realised that I found the human world too interesting and I worried that maybe I was tame at heart and would have to leave my sister and the world I loved behind. But I knew that Gwyn would never abandon me, no matter where I lived, and that the wild was what was really in my heart. You have to figure out what's in your heart, Emilia, whether deep down you're tame or wild? Or perhaps a little of both, like Jana is."

Emilia smiled, "And what if it's a person, not a place, that's in my heart."

Cadwr gave her an apologetic smile, "Matei won't always be a few leagues away. He might move away from Newcastle some day, might even move country. And you don't have to follow him. Things will change, as you get older, you'll find that you two will grow apart a little, you already are in some ways, and I know it's hurting you to realise that. But I know you're strong enough to handle it."

Emilia nodded, not able to meet Cadwr's eyes, "I wasn't on about Matei. I meant... I meant you."

Cadwr blushed, "Emilia. I..."

Emilia shook her head in shock at her honesty, "I'm sorry. I've gone and made everything awkward now."

"Emilia," Cadwr began, "I won't be the one keeping you here if you're miserable in the wild. You shouldn't stay just for me."

Emilia shook her head, "No, it's not like that. My reasons for wanting to leave, they aren't real reasons, they're just me doubting myself but when I'm around you, talking to you... I don't have any doubts that I made the right decision, because I feel strong."

Cadwr smiled, "Good. And I feel the same, I know I made the right decision to stay here."

Emilia smiled tentatively, "You feel the same?"

Cadwr grinned, "Yes. I was waiting for you."

Emilia blushed bright red earning a laugh from Cadwr which she returned until they were both laughing loud.

Outside Hafren and Owen shared a look.

"Good grief," Hafren began, "She's sappier than her brother."

Owen nodded, "But they are only young. What do they know about being in love?"

Hafren nodded, "Not much at all. Not much at all."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

TJ tried to grab the map from Selina but there was no way she was going to let go of it. They were somewhere near Grenoble now, and had been driving through the night, half of the pack in Dr Whitewood's car and half in Imara's land-rover. There was only one Sat Nav between them and they'd been texting each other like mad to make sure they were on the right roads. Selina had been the one to insist on bringing a map, and of course, she was the only one of the cubs who could read it properly.

The blue signs ahead directed them towards Grenoble city centre and they drove fast towards the turn off.

TJ tried to call Jana's phone again. He knew it was pointless, he didn't even know if they still had their phones, if they were awake yet, or if they were even allowed to have their phones on. But he needed to hear his alpha's voice because right now he could barely contain his fear.

"According to the map," Selina began, "We need to take the right at the roundabout, travel for about three miles around the ring road until we get to the turning with a sign with a large cross on it. It can't be too difficult to find."

"Ok," Imara said, "It shouldn't be to difficult. Don't worry we'll be there soon."

TJ let out an irritated sigh, "And then what?"

"Then we find out exactly what's going on," Imara said menacingly.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei was the first to wake up. He was aware that he wasn't alone, in fact Jana was asleep in the bed next to his. She looked pale, but had more colour than before, and the bump on her head didn't look so frightening any more. She was connected to various monitors and was connected a ventilator as well, which made Matei panic. Her arm was bandaged and she appeared to have bandages around her stomach too, but other than that she appeared to be ok.

Matei was glad of that, and glad that they were alone too. They'd definitely missed the conference but he expected the press to be here soon, along with government officials too. There would be questions. He let out a sigh- they weren't going to get a break any time soon.

He almost jumped as he heard the sound of someone walking along the corridor and into the room. It was a young woman, in her early thirties and she reminded him a lot of his foster mother, Amanda. The woman had long wavy mahogany hair that fell to just past her shoulders and kind brown eyes. She was tan but clearly not French or Italian, in fact Matei thought she looked very British.

She smiled as she saw that he was awake and approached carefully but not at all afraid, she held out a card in front of her, Newcastle-upon-Tyne university, it was a few years old but it stated that her name was Anna Black and that she'd worked at the university as a genetic researcher. A second later she held out a photo of what appeared to be a younger her- and could that be Dr Whitewood too?

"We were wild during our post-doc years," Anna said with a smile, "You see? I'm a friend of Dr Whitewood. I'm not working for those leeches. Trust me, I'll keep away the journalists for the next few days at least, tell them you're still too sick to talk to anyone. You two deserve a break from this insanity."

"Do you know about...?" Matei began nervously.

Anna nodded, "I knew about them almost as soon as Dr Whitewood did. There was a young girl- five or so- her parents died in a car crash, and she was brought here. Her blood results looked odd- we thought it was a problem with the testing kits and I sent it to the laboratory at Segolia for better analysis. That's when I found out."

Matei nodded understandingly, "Did that happen a lot? Before... Wolfblood getting sent to human hospitals."

Anna nodded, "Occasionally. But I guess most of the time people put a plan in place for events like that, so that Segolia could pick up the pieces before the authorities could intervene. Like with your sister, after the fire, or so I've been told. Segolia created a fake healthcare facility where she looked after until they could send you off to a fake foster family."

"They're not a fake family!" Matei yelled, "They're a real family to us!"

"Matei," Anna said, "Calm down. I wasn't suggesting that your foster parents don't love you or your sister. What I mean is that, if wolfbloods had trusted us earlier, humans like Dr Whitewood and I, then your lives wouldn't be in danger every time you cut yourself or bump your head."

"And why should I trust you?" Matei asked venomously.

"I guess I deserve that," Anna began, adjusting one of the monitors next to Jana's bed, "I know how this will sound but- well, for one thing, you don't have much of a choice. My boss wanted to hand you both over to the authorities immediately, I don't- I'm not that cold. Two, I'm Dr Whitewood's friend from uni and have known her for years, we worked together at her old lab until I moved to France five years ago. In fact she called me as soon as she knew you'd arrived here. I had a hard time getting out of paediatrics. You can call her if you like."

Matei nodded, and Anna passed him her mobile phone, before dialling he said, "How is Jana?"

Anna smiled as reassuringly as possible, "She'll be ok. She had concussion but it's healing fast, a broken arm, a couple of broken ribs, and... well.… A fair bit of internal bleeding- ruptured lung, cuts to her liver and spleen- which we forced to remove. I'm sorry, Matei."

Matei nodded grimly, "I guess we'll just have to take a lot of care to make sure she doesn't get ill."

Anna nodded, "We all will, but wolfblood immune system are super strong. She may well not be affected at all."

Matei shook his head, "Jana has a weaker immune system than other wolfbloods, she was born too early."

Anna chewed her lip, "I'll keep that in mind."

Matei nodded, "And, and, what about...?"

"You," Anna began, "Five broken ribs that caused some swelling around your lungs, a badly broken ankle, and lots of cuts and bruises from metal and glass. You got off quite well."

"No one else survived, did they?" Matei asked grimly.

"Four humans," Anna replied grimly, "Other than that, no. And the investigation has only just started so I can't give you any more information."

"Is it ok if I call in here?" Matei asked.

"Well usually we'd say no," Anna said, "But this is one of the few places where cameras aren't allowed and there's no equipment for them to mess with. Just make it quick though, my boss will be suspicious otherwise."

Matei nodded, before trying to dial Dr Whitewood's number, but it was no use. Instead he called TJ, who picked up instantly.

"Hello?" TJ asked grumpily, "Who is this? Seriously this better not be a prank call, I'm not in the mood."

"Hi, TJ," Matei answered groggily, trying to fight off the haze from the painkillers that was beginning to descend again, "Nice to hear from you too."

"Matei!" TJ exclaimed in shock, "Let me just put you on speaker phone. Where are you? Where's Jana? What's going on? Are you ok? And who's Anna?"

"Matei!" Selina yelled, "Thank goodness you're alive! Where's Jana? We're on a our way."

"I'm ok," Matei replied, "Just a few broken ribs and a broken ankle, nothing serious. Jana's a little worse off, but she's getting better. We're lucky to have walked away from that. We're at some hospital, oh, Anna says it's the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de _Grenoble_ _in Room G14- Ward G, Room 14, paediatrics. Anna's one of Dr Whitewood's old friends who she used to party with a lot at uni."_

 _Anna sighed, shaking her head, and patted Jana's leg gently, "You've found a real charmer there kiddo."_

 _"_ _Selina's just texting now to confirm that's true," TJ replied, "And we'll be there in fifteen minutes. Are you sure you're ok? Is there anything you need?"_

 _"_ _Apart from the sequel to A Dance with Dragons," Matei replied, "I think I'm ok. You just make sure to keep an eye out from trouble, whoever did this wanted us dead, and there's a chance they'll be after you too."_

 _"_ _Will do," TJ replied, "Dr Whitewood says she knows Anna, Anna Black, but that we're not to ask about anything that happened during her uni days. Oh, and your foster parents are coming too, they're just outside of Paris."_

 _"_ _Good to know. I bet she hooked up with Jeffries," Matei said with a smile._

 _Anna laughed a little, "Oh, you have no idea."_

 _"_ _Anyway, mum says we're nearly there," TJ said, "How do we get in? I assume we won't be able to just waltz in through the front door."_

 _Anna thought for a while, "I'll meet them at the entrance to the oncology department."_

 _"_ _Entrance to the oncology department," Matei repeated, "And stay safe, yeah?"_

 _"_ _Of course," TJ said._

 _"_ _Will do," Selina added, "Tell Jana we'll be there before she knows it."_

 _"_ _I will," Matei replied, "If I don't fall into a morphine coma first."_

 _TJ laughed sadly, "Well at least you're being looked after."_

 _"_ _Yeah," Matei agreed, "See you soon."_

 _"_ _Yeah, we'll be there before you know it," TJ said before hanging up._

 _Matei passed the phone back to Anna, "Thank you."_

 _"_ _No problem," Anna said with a grin, "So, you're pack will be here soon? Sorry, I just find wolfbloods really fascinating, is all."_

 _Matei nodded, "Jana and I, we're the alphas, well Jana is, I'm sort of... Well."_

 _"_ _The boyfriend?" Anna asked, "I can tell."_

 _Matei grinned despite himself, "Fiancé actually."_

 _"_ _Kids these days!" Anna replied, "So how far along is she then?"_

 _Matei's eyes were wide with shock, "Erm, we're not..."_

 _"_ _Just messing with you," Anna answered, "She's lucky to have someone like you, who's so protective and caring."_

 _Matei smiled, yawning a lot, "She's fy enaid cymar alffa. It means soul-mate alpha, in Welsh. Jana's from Wales originally, but she's lived up north for a good three or so years on and off. Actually more I think, her family moved to Scotland when she was little. I'm just a Geordie through and through."_

 _"_ _That's odd," Anna began, "Your medical records say you're white Romanian."_

 _"_ _Parents are from Transylvania," Matei answered, "Cliché but true."_

 _"_ _And your sister?" Anna asked, "It's just she's mentioned here a few times."_

 _"_ _Emilia," Matei said with sudden worry, "I... She moved away a little while ago, to live with some relatives. I need to talk to her... To get a message to her..."_

 _"_ _I'm sure she'll have heard," Anna said reassuringly, "You should rest now."_

 _Matei shook his head, "I have to stay awake for when my pack gets here."_

 _Anna shook her head, "You have to rest. You might be the alphas, but I'm the boss here. Sleep. I'll make sure you and Jana are ok."_

 _Matei nodded sleepily, giving Jana one last loving glance before dozing off soundlessly._

 _BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_

 _"_ _Anna," Dr Whitewood said without preamble, "It's been a long time."_

 _Anna nodded, "You're right it has. We've been missing you on the French Rivera. Now come on, tea and bikkies later, let's get you inside before the leeches descend."_

 _Katrina and TJ exchanged a concerned look, before heading through a parking lot with the rest of their pack towards the back entrance of the paediatrics department._

 _Aran and Meinir exchanged worried looks._

 _"_ _Is she ok?" Aran asked, "Jana, is she ok?"_

 _Anna nodded, "She'll be fine. Older brother?"_

 _Aran shook his head, "Just a friend."_

 _"_ _Ok," Anna said sceptically, before trying to kick the door open, "I hate inward opening fire escapes."_

 _"_ _Here, let me," TJ offered, trying to kick it, but ending up only wincing instead as the door failed to budge._

 _"_ _Don't worry I have a crowbar in the car," Imara replied, "Just give me a moment."_

 _"_ _Yeah, that's normal," Anna replied._

 _Dr Whitewood sighed, "How are they?"_

 _"_ _Matei is overprotective," Anna replied, "Worrisome and doesn't trust me at all. As for Jana, she isn't awake yet, but I think she's ok actually."_

 _"_ _Anna, seriously!" Dr Whitewood exclaimed, "I'm asking for a report on their injuries not a character report."_

 _"_ _Ok, ok," Anna said, "Matei had pleurisy, five broken ribs and a badly broken tibia, and bruises and cuts caused by broken metal and glass. As for Jana- concussion, two broken ribs which punctured her left lung, hepatic lacerations, and a splenectomy."_

 _"_ _Shit!" Dr Whitewood said, "I'm assuming she's in paediatric ICU."_

 _Anna shook her head, "I couldn't get away with that. Paediatrics wouldn't take them- under 16s now. They're in their own separate room, about four nurses and three doctors on standby at any one time. Much better than ICU, but then they are celebrities."_

 _Dr Whitewood nodded, "I just hope they'll be ok."_

 _Anna nodded, "Jana's strong. Matei told me she has a weak immune system, but that can't be true at all, I've spent the past three hours trying to keep her from suffering from a cytokine storm."_

 _"_ _It's a rumour," Dr Whitewood confirmed, "Her family assumed the worst because Jana was born a month early and was apparently sickly as a baby. As it turns out, she's lactose intolerant and from what her father described she had colic too. Although he referred to it as spoilt alpha princess disorder. Jana's father is a well known wild wolfblood alpha, I think I told you about the wild pack when I first mentioned the wolfbloods. So to them she's as good as a princess."_

 _Anna smiled, "Will her father be coming here?"_

 _Dr Whitewood shook her head, "He's had to move his pack to a more rural location, and he'll be relied upon more than ever now. It will be impossible to get a message to him before they're moved back to England anyway. As for Jana's mother... She died when she was very young, three or four I think. Car accident. She doesn't like talking about it, I don't think she's even mentioned it to Matei."_

 _Anna nodded as Imara appeared, crowbar in hand._

 _"_ _Do your worst," Anna said, gesturing towards the door, and seconds later Imara swung at it, making a large dent._

 _"_ _I'll see what I can do," Selina said, taking the crowbar and smashing it into the doors until they shattered apart._

 _"_ _Sorry, TJ, girls win this time," Meinir replied with a smug smile._

 _TJ shook his head, "Let's just find our alphas."_

 _BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_

 _Jana woke up groggily, tearing at the strange object that was attached to her face. Her heart was racing with panic and she couldn't see clearly. Where was Matei and the rest of her pack?_

 _All she could see was her Mum everywhere she looked. Not the Mum she had grown up with- not the Mum who always smiled and spoilt her, who would tell her stories before bed, always let her sleep with the firefly jar even when he dad said that it was for babies and not alpha heirs, the young woman with messy red hair and wide emerald eyes._

 _Instead she saw a bloodied corpse, with its leg nearly ripped off. Jana hadn't been allowed to see her mother after the accident. She had barely been allowed to attend the funeral._

 _But it felt so real._

 _Jana yelled out in horror, "Mum! MUMMY! NO! MUMMY! PLEASE!"_

 _BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_

 _The pack heard Jana's screams before they ran into the room._

 _Their alpha was staring at the ceiling, her eyes blank, and she looked pale. In the bed next to her Matei was just waking up and trying to make his way towards her, although he looked dizzy and unsteady._

 _Jana thrashed this way and that, in pain as she rolled onto the badly injured side of her stomach. She was crying and crying and yelling and yelling for her mum._

 _"_ _Is she..?" Selina asked._

 _Dr Whitewood raced towards the young cub, Meinir following and trying to sit on the edge of the bed, stroking Jana's dirty and tangled hair._

 _"_ _Mummy," Jana said in a voice barely above a whisper, crying loudly._

 _Meinir tried to hold back tears. What could she do? She knew Arianne better than anyone else. She had been her heir. Think, think, she told herself. There had to be something she could do to calm down Jana._

 _Then it struck her. The lullaby._

 _Meinir began to hum softly and Jana quietened a little, sobs still shuddering through her as Anna and Dr Whitewood tried to figure out what was going on._

 _"_ _The morphine," Dr Whitewood said, "I think it causes hallucinations."_

 _Jana sobbed a little, but her eyes seemed to focus more now, and she noticed her pack around her and was even able to give them a small but miserable smile._

 _Aran helped Matei into a nearby chair which had been pushed close to Jana's bed, and the young cub took his enaid cymar alphas hand in both of his shaky ones._

 _"_ _We're here, Jana," Imara said gently, "You're safe now."_

 _Jana shook her head miserably, "I don't want to be here. I just want Mummy."_


	12. Chapter 12

Amanda pulled up the window blind to reveal the early morning sun. Matei winced, trying to bury his head into his pillow but it was no use.

"Good morning to you too," Matei grumbled groggily.

Amanda smiled, "Nothing changes. It's still a nightmare trying to get you to wake up in the morning. Did you fill in your breakfast cards?"

Matei nodded, passing the cards to Amanda.

"Fry up again?" Amanda asked, "Everyone's going to think that there's a constant party going on in here- what with all the teenagers coming and going and you and Jana ordering hangover food every morning. I wonder how you wolfbloods never get sick of meat."

"Meat heals," Matei said with a smile, looking over to see that Jana was beginning to wake up. It seemed that since the crash she was a much lighter sleeper, and it worried Matei- maybe it was just stress, but Jana had hit her head pretty hard.

"Pretty sure that's just a myth," Amanda said with a slight laugh, "Although I know better than to say that to Aran again."

Matei laughed, he could remember Aran's reaction when Amanda told him the 'meat cure' sounded ridiculous. He'd never seen Aran so angry.

Jana tried to sit up but didn't seem to enough energy. It was his fault, Matei thought to himself, he'd insisted on them staying up late so he could watch the series marathon of Game of Thrones- and it had been a whole new experience watching the programme with Jana there, commenting on how certain families on the show reminded her of different wild packs she knew, and how she was sure that the show directors had to be ex-wild wolfbloods because the similarities were so uncanny, especially when it came to the Targaryeans .

"Good morning, Amanda," Jana said with a loud yawn, "Sorry, I'm like a zombie before my morning coffee."

"Good morning, Jana," Amanda replied, "How are you?"

"I'm ok," Jana said, "There's no pain."

Matei smiled in relief. It had been a week since the crash and they'd been getting better quickly. The bump on Jana's head had disappeared, she could even sit up a little, but until her stomach was completely healed it was going to be hard for her to do much at all. At least she was eating a bit more now, her appetite had disappeared for the first few days- making everyone panic. As for Matei, his ribs still ached occasionally and there was the cough that seemed to be taking ages to go away but apparently was just normal, at least he could walk around a bit, and he was even going in to town a little later to get a few supplies for when they travelled back to England. Naturally, they were going by car and ferry- and the government officials seemed to prefer that anyway.. As it turned out they had nothing to do with the attacks or even the drug trial, that was the work of someone working independently and posing as a government official. They'd even gone to extreme lengths to prove that, to gain their trust- and their DNA samples.

Not that Matei cared too much about that. He already knew they'd find nothing exciting, there were no genetic disorders in his family, his grandparents had died of old age when they were in their late 90s and Matei suspected it would be the same for him too. As for Jana's DNA sample, well apparently they'd needing yet another one, because there was so much to analyse. There were a lot of abnormalities compared to human DNA apparently, Matei would have given anything to see the results, and they had been promised a meeting with a geneticist to explain the findings, but they were still working with the information they'd gathered, trying to analyse it and draw conclusions. But sometimes there were abnormalities that appeared to have no explanation at all.

Katrina appeared at the doorway just as the clock struck 8am- the beginning of visiting hours.

"Good morning," she called out to them, placing a carrier bag on the end of Jana's bed, which the young wolfblood tried to pick up a smell from.

"Krispy Kremes!" Jana yelled in joy.

Katrina shook her head, "Well we don't have a Kafe in Grenoble- yet. So this is the best I could do. Although looking at these breakfast cards I'd say you won't have much room for doughnuts."

"Katrina," Jana began gravely, "There's always room for doughnuts."

Amanda shook her head, "Trust me. When we're back in England things will be changing drastically. I promise you."

Jana sighed, "No doubt they will. I've been asked to take part in a programme. The governments trying to hire me."

Katrina nodded understandingly, "Foreign diplomat stuff again?"

Jana nodded, "Apparently they think my experience working at Segolia has qualified me as some kind of secret agent."

"They should stop trying to give us jobs we don't need," Matei began grumpily, "And instead spend their time looking into the crash."

Amanda sighed, "You know they are. But all they can say is that there was an explosion. And you already know that. They have no idea who might be behind it."

"You really believe that?" Matei said, "Look at how Kincaid falsified that information to accuse Gerwyn of fraud. Governments can make anything up."

"True," Jana said, "However, they wouldn't have offered to teach me and Selina Krav Maga if they wanted to take us down."

"I don't think they find a bunch of teenagers all that threatening," Matei said glumly.

"Oh, they will," Jana said menacingly, "I'm not going to blindly trust them. I'm going to get close and see what they're up to- gain their trust- that's the only way to keep us safe."

Katrina let out a sigh, "I guess our lives are never going to be normal again, are they?"

"I'm a non-human girl who has a tail," Jana began, "And who can see in the past and connect to nature on a psychic level. When have I been normal? When have any of us been normal?"

Matei nodded, "Jana's right, and anyway normal is overrated- denotes a lack of courage."

"But we do need to find out who was behind the crash," Jana said, "It's the only way to avoid another incident like that happening again- and to protect humans and wolfbloods."

Katrina nodded, "Will we be safe going back by car and ferry?"

"Yes, we should be," Jana concluded, "There's going to be a police escort. Oh, well, there might be one problem..."

Matei frowned, "What?"

"I've never been on a boat before," Jana said in an extremely worried voice, "What if I get boat sick?"

Katrina laughed, "You'll be fine."

"TJ gets really bad sea sickness," Matei said, "Although he never admits to it... Until he has to."

Jana giggled, "Well that does make feel a lot less worried."

"Sadist," TJ replied as he walked through the door, his mother and Aran and Meinir following behind him, "I went especially out of my way to buy you these... Fizzy worms... And this how I'm repaid."

"Fizzy worms?" Amanda asked in concern, "Do I want to know?"

"They are usually made of natural ingredients and flavourings," Jana replied defensively.

"Great," Amanda replied sarcastically.

Meinir laughed, "You didn't exactly go 'out of your way' TJ. There's a supermarket just opposite our hotel."

"It's not like you went on a five mile trek to find them," Aran added, "Gods, your pack is lazy, Jana. Can't even go to corner store without making a fuss."

Matei growled at Aran, who just shrugged.

"Enough!" Jana yelled, "TJ was just messing about. And we have far more important things to be discussing than my pack's work ethic? Did you bring the newspapers again?"

Meinir nodded, passing them to her alpha, "I think they found the black box. What is a black box?"

Jana nodded, as she skim read the article. The crash was still on the front page and Meinir was right- they had found the flight recorders and analysis was taking place. It appeared that there had been an explosion in the hold, near the cabin, almost right underneath where Jana and Matei had been sitting. It seemed like that was absolute conformation that someone was targeting wolfbloods.

Jana flicked through the newspapers, looking at the pictures of the wreckage. They were very lucky. She recognised the remains of her suitcase including a picture of her old Stoneybridge pack that she had carried everywhere with her but was now badly scorched around the edges. She missed Rhydian, Maddy, Shannon and Tom, but it was too dangerous for them to travel now- Tom and Shannon had been forced into hiding and were staying with Maddy's relatives in Cornwall, as for Maddy and Rhydian, Maddy's parents house in Canada was so remote that it would take them too long to get to the nearest city, let alone to travel to France or England. Rhydian and Jana had been texting however, and it seemed that he was following the news just as closely as she was. In fact, they had been sharing their ideas as to who might have done it. Rhydian seemed to have more suspects than Jana did.

Humans, ex-Segolia employees, wolfbloods who resented them sharing the secret, people like Kincaid, they were all suspects.

Jana sighed, there had to be something to narrow down the list. She also jumped as Matei placed a careful hand on her arm.

"Look at this," Matei said, pointing to one of the photos, "It looks like a wolf."

Jana squinted trying to decipher what the image was on one of the suitcases, it was badly damaged and barely recognisable.

But Jana would recognise that symbol anywhere.

Three wolves.

Cerberus.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
"So it is sorted?" Owen asked nervously as they crouched behind a mound of damp earth, peering out every now and then to see if anyone was coming.

"I'm no Meinir," Hafren admitted sullenly, "But they do trust me now. And with the others gone, it's time to move."

"And Aran," Owen said painfully.

"What?" Hafren asked, "It's not like you actually love him."

"Of course I don't," Owen said, "But it seems wrong. He hasn't done anything to hurt anyone. He's walked a fine line between fulfilling Alric's and Jana's commands and keeping this pack's traditions alive."

"You back out if you want to," Hafren said impatiently, "But if you think that things are going to be the same with Emilia as our next leader you are absolutely mistaken. It will just be like Arianne all over again- she'll twist and contort our pack until we're no longer recognisable. I was glad when she died... Alric went back to seeing sense. We were almost tame then. You were so lucky to have a normal pack to grow up in. Mine was deranged. And then when Jana was our alpha... I thought it was all over for us. And it is now, the humans know about us. And we don't need our little tame peace offering, we all know Emilia is just a stand in for Jana and her heretical ideas."

Owen nodded, "Which is why I agree with you. We have to do something. You have to be the next alpha."

Hafren nodded, "Yes, and soon."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Kincaid cussed under his breath, throwing the newspaper into the fire. He hated journalists.

He just had to hope that none of Jana's pack would recognise the Cerberus symbol. He had nagged Carrie about adding it to the suitcase, but she was proud and young and often stupid. Next time he knew that a job was better doing himself.

Jana wasn't stupid, if she didn't see the sign today, then she'd only notice it tomorrow or one of her pack would. Even in his hide out he was still in danger.

They needed to act now.

"Is everything ok?" the other young girl- Holly- asked.

Kincaid didn't trust her. Carrie was easily coerced and completely broken and probably also clinically insane. But Holly- she was observant and cautious, and she'd always maintained a neutral position between Carrie and Jana's pack. She made everything difficult for him. But he couldn't just kick Carrie out- she might talk.

Kincaid sighed, he'd have to make do, "Yes, yes. I need to go get some shopping later today but then it will just be business as usual. You and Carrie should stay in today, there's some movies upstairs."

Holly nodded, "Ok."

Kincaid smiled to himself, it seemed Holly was finally getting the idea of shutting up and putting up. He no longer had to use Carrie as a weapon to make her compliant. But then again he no longer allowed himself or Carrie to discuss plans with her.

Holly walked away, down a dark and damp corridor but when she got to the end she stopped and looking around her carefully removed the air vent panel and climbed up through it to a narrow tunnel. She'd found this route a few days ago when going to the kitchen to make a late night snack, and getting lost on the way. She knew it was only five minutes walk away from the central station and that it was twenty minutes on the metro to the hospital. She found the rucksack she had shoved at one of the tunnel and moving it out of the way, climbed up to the street level, moving the trapdoor out of the way.

Thank goodness Kincaid and Carrie were human, Holly thought to herself, if there had been wolfblood working at the headquarters, she'd have been caught in an instant. At least Jana's training hadn't gone to waste- Holly had evaded them.

She darted over the metro station and shoved the ticket she'd bought the day earlier into the validator machine and darting down the escalator to the platform just as the train came to a stop. She jumped through the doors, earning irritated looks from the other passengers- she'd forgotten it was rush hour.

She let herself catch her breath as she noted that there were six stops before the hospital.

She pulled out her phone, and dialled the number, the person answered in an instant.

"TJ," Holly began, "I have news."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
"I'll be fine," Jana reassured Matei, "Anna's probably going to drop by and tell me more about Dr Whitewood's life at uni, more than I'd ever want to know. And Katrina's going to give me a makeover apparently. But at least lunch is hamburgers."

Matei smiled worriedly, "I feel bad leaving you here. Are you sure that you've listed everything you want?"

Jana nodded, "Now go on. The rest of the pack is waiting."

Matei leaned over wobbly to kiss his fiancée, "Love you, enaid cymar alffa."

"Love you too," Jana replied, "And don't worry, I'll be completely fine."


	13. Chapter 13

Emilia wandered throw the forest, swishing the branch backwards in a melancholy fashion as she allowed herself to run away in her thoughts. She knew Cadwr would be mad at her if he saw her like this, so distracted and vulnerable, acting like a human.

But maybe she was more human than wolf, she thought to herself.

It had been harder and harder as every day went by to just pretend that this was the right life for her. Sure Cadwr had been the reason for her wanting to stay at first, but she missed her old pack, especially her brother.

She wanted to go home, she wanted to go back to living at Amanda and John's- to Wednesday night Carbonaras, fighting with Matei over which movie to watch on a Saturday night, telling her brother that his last reading choice was a waste of time. She missed the Kafe too- Jana always hanging around with them during her breaks, half-priced cupcakes and milkshakes, Friday night curry nights. She even missed seeing Matei and Jana, and Selina and TJ happy together even though she'd never admit it to them. And of course, Meinir was living in the human world too now.

It felt as if her whole life was somewhere else and without much consideration of how she felt she'd been thrown into another life that she wasn't sure could ever really be hers.

She felt that there was no way that being the next heir, let alone the next alpha could the right thing for her.

She smiled to herself as she remembered her earliest memories of her family, a long long time before the fire. It was a dark moon today- a baboon day- and that always made her feel more lost. So whilst the pack slept, Emilia wandered allowing herself to become lost to her memories and feeling more and more like she knew what she really wanted- to leave the wild and go home.

 _Ten years earlier_

"Emilia!" an exuberant young black haired boy yelled as he jumped up and down on her bed, "Wake up! Wake up!"

"Matei!" the toddler yelled back with an irritated grimace, wiping the sleep out her eyes. She was never going to be a morning person.

"Come on!" Matei yelled with a beaming smile, "Mama says we're going hiking today."

"Hiking?" Emilia queried and she sat up groggily. Matei was perched on the end of her bed, and as usual was already messing her book cupboard as he decided which books he was going to borrow for the day- although he already had a good hundred or so of his own!

Matei nodded, "And Mama said she's going to teach what all the plants and herbs are and if we're lucky we might also go strawberry picking later."

Emilia grinned, jumping out of her princess themed bed and retrieving her threadbare one-eyed teddy bear from where it had fallen on the ground, "Ok, sounds cool!"

Matei smiled, "I thought you'd say that your shoes were feeling tired."

Emilia shook her head, "They were but then they heard about the strawberries and they were all better again."

Matei laughed, taking his sister's hand in his, "Come on, there's pancakes for breakfast too."

 _Seven years ago_

The Christmas tree glowed wildly from the crazy lights that decorated. There must have been thousands of baubles in all colours and hundreds of reindeers and angels and snowmen placed precariously on it but it was a tradition in the Covaci household for the children to decorate the tree, for their father to organise the outdoor lighting and send their letters to Santa and for their mother to pack apple pies, sausage rolls, Christmas pudding and of course the turkey as well.

"The full Harry Potter book set!" Matei yelled, "Thank you!"

Delena smiled at her son as he stared in wonder at the set of books that he was holding. Matei reminded her so much of her own father- he had been a reader too, and loved the outdoors as well. They would have to make a trip to Romania at some point, to visit their parents. They lived far away from the city and Delena and Stefan had been reluctant to make the journey which such small children. But now that Matei was nine and Emilia was six, well they weren't babies anymore.

Stefan smiled as well as he looked at his children. They were far from the perfect family- his job meant he didn't get to see them as often as he liked, and the coming and going on of people to the house unsettled them. But this was why he loved Christmas- no work, no obligations. Just spending time together as a family. He tried to be easier on them too- tried not worry about them eating all of the chocolate in their Christmas stockings at six in the morning, tried to not to care about them spending all day in their PJs, tried not to be bothered about how Emilia would try to stay up every Christmas from midnight to midnight to see if she could catch Santa (she usually always fell asleep anyway).

"Medieval princess colouring set!" Emilia read with a little difficulty, "This is awesome! Thank you!"

Delena smiled, "Well I'm glad that your both happy with your presents. But remember Matei, Christmas is a day off from reading... And writing."

"But Mum," Matei began to complain, "I'm only fifty pages from the end of my book and I made a promise to my English teacher..."

Stefan could feel he was beginning to panic a little, "Matei your book will still be there tomorrow and you'll easily finish writing your story in time for the beginning of term. Today is a day for all of us to spend together."

"You can help me with my princesses," Emilia said, "I can never decide on what colours their dresses should be."

Matei grinned, "Ok."

"That went well," Delena said with relief, "I was expecting a full meltdown."

Stefan grinned, "He's nine now. He probably thinks we're old wolves who can be played for fools. I don't think we've won the war yet."

 _Two years ago_

"So did Matei tell you the good news?" Emilia chirped as Matei shook his head in disbelief.

"You got a good grade on the science test," Stefan said, looking up from the mail that he was sorting through.

"Well, yeah," Matei began, as he helped his mum with the dinner, "I got a 7a, but Emilia's not on about that."

"Oh, yeah, I just got a 7a," Emilia said, "That's nothing!"

Matei grinned and shrugged, "GCSEs matter more."

"You should be proud of yourself," Delena said, kissing her son, "Now what's this good news?"

"Matei's got a girlfriend!" Emilia sang loudly as Matei blushed and tried to hide his face behind a cupboard door.

"Oh, go on tell us everything," Delena said, "Is she a wolfblood or a human? Have we met her before?"

"It's Selina isn't it?" Stefan asked, "You know- two smart kids, it's inevitable!"

"No, no!" Emilia yelled, "Just wait until you hear.

"Emilia!" Matei yelled furiously, launching a tea towel at his sister, "No, not Selina, she's TJ's territory and we're just good friends. Look, she's not my girlfriend, we're just working on a class project together."

"Matei!" Stefan said, "No throwing things at your sister."

"Yeah, right," Emilia replied, "You fancy her."

Matei rolled his eyes, "So does TJ and all the straight guys at our school."

"TJ doesn't even know her," Emilia said.

"Well you know TJ," Matei said, "He runs after any girl- human or wolfblood."

"Well that's for Imara to deal with," Delena concluded, "Not that she doesn't already have a lot on her plate. We're lucky with you two, eh? So who is she?"

"A friend of a sort of friend," Matei said, "We met a reading group a few weeks ago, we're in the same music class. She's nice."

Emilia laughed, "She's a friend of Carrie's- Holly, I think."

Matei looked irritated, "You could have let me say."

"When?" Emilia asked.

"Aw, well that's sweet, dear," Delena said, "Holly- no I haven't met her before. Wait- I think I've met her mother before, yes, at the supermarket. Very nice woman- no doubt her daughter is nice too. You should invite Holly over for dinner at some time."

"A friend of Carrie's?" his father asked, "Carrie Black?"

Matei nodded, "They're best friend apparently."

"Well just be careful," Stefan cautioned his son.

"Why?" Matei asked, "Holly's nice, and kind, and..."

"You're going to live happily ever ever after," Emilia interrupted.

Matei rolled his eyes.

"No reason," Stefan said, "It's just some girls can be mean and break your heart. We just want you to be happy. With the right girl for you, whoever she is."

Matei nodded, "You don't need to worry about me. I'll know the right girl when I see her."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Now," Hafren said as she crouched amongst the fern trees, her hand held tightly onto the rope.

"She seems in a world of her own today," Owen said merrily, "This will be like taking venison from the paws of an alpha cub."

Hafren watched intently as Emilia wandered closer and closer, then when she felt confident, she released the rope and a large net fell down covering the young wolf.

The cub cried out in shock as Hafren and Owen raced towards her.

"Hafren, Owen!" Emilia yelled, "You have to warn the pack! Hunters... There are hunters here!"

"Yes, there are," Owen said with a smile, "But don't be worried little Emilia, everything will be just fine."

Emilia looked up in horror as Hafren held up a large rock. She didn't have a chance to scream before it hit her.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei threw up again, shaking his head in confusion. He smiled gratefully as Selina passed him a water bottle but he felt as concerned as Aran and Meinir looked. Whilst Meinir had some very strange ideas about the effects that illness could have on an alpha wolfblood male, Aran had been more understanding... And less well... Disturbing.

"It's probably just heatstroke," Matei said, "I just need to sit in the shade for a while."

"I'm going to take you back to the hospital," Amanda announced, "This isn't like you. I knew it was too soon."

"I thought Romanians couldn't get heatstroke," TJ said.

"Or colds," Selina added, "Or really any illness or defect."

Matei rolled his eyes, "Whatever. I'm fine really. Heatstroke or food poisoning, or maybe some withdrawal symptoms from one of the medication. Or well... I did stay up late reading last night."

Meinir shook her head, "How typical!"

"Well you're going back to the hospital right now," Amanda said.

But before she could continue Matei doubled over, holding onto a bench for support as pain ripped through him.

"Matei!" Selina yelled, "Come on, let's get you back to the hospital. I have no idea what's going on. We need Anna and Dr Whitewood."

Matei shook his head, "May... I need to talk to May..."

The older girl shook her head, "What have I told you about using that name?"

Matei shook his head, looking desperate, "I think Emilia's in danger."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

The afternoon sun had made Jana very drowsy and the back to back America's Next Top Model and Made in Eccles hadn't helped much either. She looked at her nails which were painted morning fuchsia. How had things gotten like this?

"I think the blonde should win," Katrina announced, "What do you think?"

Jana shook her head, "No the dark haired one. She seems more normal. And I think she's a wolfblood."

"Speciesism much!" Katrina complained, earning a grin from Jana, "Well just one more episode and we'll find out who's right. Jana, Jana?"

"Sorry," Jana said, as she woke up quickly, "It's the sun, it makes me sleepy."

Katrina shook her head, "I'll see if Anna's around. See if she can get us more popcorn and chicken nuggets."

Jana nodded, "And fizzy worms."

"You ate all the fizzy worms," Katrina replied.

"Again?" Jana asked, "I'll just be sleeping."

Katrina shook her head as she watched Jana toss and turn a little before falling asleep quickly, buried by tons of pillows and surrounded by various stuffed teddy bears, magazines and get-well-soon cards.

Jana was definitely still an alpha princess through and through.

Katrina walked into the corridor looking for Anna or Dr Whitewood, but not seeing them anywhere at all. Instead she spotted a dark haired girl and a sandy haired man heading straight towards her. She'd never seen them before, but they seemed to recognise her, and it made her uncomfortable she darted back into the room, placing a chair under the door handle and standing at the other end of it peering through the window in the door.

Jana woke up groggily, "Katrina, what's wrong?"

Katrina shook her head, "A man, and a girl. I've never seen them before but they were coming this way. Coming to this room. They saw me and they seems so... Pleased."

Jana tried to sit up, but grimaced at the pain.

"No, Jana," Katrina told her, putting a hand on her shoulder, "You'll just get hurt."

"I have to help!" Jana said defiantly.

"Then tell me what to do," Katrina said.

"The hair curlers," Jana said, pointing to the item which had placed at the end of the bed, "Use them as a weapon."

The man appeared at the door, the girl behind him and giving it one first kicked he managed to splinter the wood and began to make an opening in it that was big enough for him and the girl to crawl through.

"Hello, Jana," the man said as he looked at the young wolf.

Jana's face went ashen as she recognised the man and the young girl beside him.

"Kincaid."

A beam of blue light fired from a device in Kincaid's hand, hitting Jana before she had time to react.

The young girl cried out in pain and shock, feeling her wolf fight and fight but lose and lose but then it was over and she was no longer her. This wasn't like the old serum, where the wolf had to wait until the next full moon to completely disappear. This was instant and Jana felt her wolf disintegrate into the air around her, no longer a part of who she was. She let out a loud and horrifying sob.

She was no longer Jana.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Meinir helped Matei out of the car, and into a nearby wheelchair, trying to reassure him that his sister was ok. She had suspected the two were psychically bonded when Matei had told her about the day he'd heard Emilia crying when Maddoc had pushed her off the cliff edge. The distance was too great, even if Matei had been able to use Eolas. They had to be psychically bonded- just like her and Aran.

And there would no cure. Except to help Emilia.

Matei smiled at her gratefully before sniffing the air in suspicion.

The whole pack turned to see the human running towards them.

"Holly?" TJ said in shock, "What are you doing here?"

"It's Kincaid and Carrie," Holly said without preamble, "They're going to take away Jana's wolf."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Katrina was hugging Jana tightly just as the rest of the pack entered the room.

The wild red haired girl was sobbing and Matei could tell that there was a change in her scent, something was missing.

He carefully climbed out of the wheelchair and hobbled over to his enaid cymar alffa, sitting down next to her on the bed, and pulling her into his arms.

Jana sobbed loudly and painfully, telling them over and over again that her wolf was dead, that she was dead.

The rest of the pack looked on in shock.

"We were too late," Aran concluded in horror.


	14. Chapter 14

**Two days later**

"So those are our options," Selina summarised, "We absolutely have to go back to the wild pack to check that Emilia is ok and to tell Alric about what has happened to Jana. But for now, Jana and Matei are still too sick to travel to the wild pack, so either we split up and send half the pack to the wild and have half the pack stay in the human world or we wait until Jana and Matei are safe enough to travel and then we go."

"I prefer waiting," TJ said, "Otherwise Kincaid and his minions are just going to pick us off like flies."

Matei nodded, "As much as I hate the idea of leaving Emilia there, she's not alone. She's got Cadwr and Alric and by the time we get there things will either be fixed... Or... Well, I can't think like that. But I'd know anyway. It will take us days to get from here to the wild pack. And I need time to negotiate with the authorities- they are expecting us to go straight to London."

Meinir nodded, "And what about the human members of our pack? How will we get to wild pack, they're in the middle of one of the most inaccessible valleys in the whole of Scotland!"

Jana trembled a little at the mention of the 'human members' of the pack, still struggling to come to terms with what had happened to her, "I have to go back. I have to."

Matei hugged his alpha, "We will, I'll make sure you get there."

"You know me," Katrina said, "Whenever have I given in?"

Matei nodded, "Yeah, tell me about it."

Jana tried to smile but it turned into more of a grimace. The whole pack looked at her worriedly. Despite losing her wolf, she had still remained their alpha, although it was clear she was depressed- she'd sleep for most of the day, wouldn't eat anything unless Matei forced her to (often having to resort to emotional manipulation), and when she was awake she trembled constantly and was hardly able to focus on anything. Whilst her injuries had nearly completely healed and they would be leaving the hospital the next day, Matei felt that Jana needed to watched closely. He heard her yelling in her sleep, yelling about how much she wanted to see her mother again- he knew what that might mean, and he wasn't going to let Jana go, no matter how much she might want to. He had to make her see that being a human wasn't the end of everything.

"So we stick together," Selina said, breaking the awkward silence, "And we leave tomorrow at sunrise."

"Definitely," Dr Whitewood said as she entered the room, carrying a folder filled with a ton of paperwork, "The earlier we leave the quicker we get to wild pack. Although it would be good if Jana stayed here."

"Your cures didn't work for Meinir, why would they work for me?!" Jana yelled defiantly, "I'm not staying here. I'm going to the wild with my pack and you can't stop me."

"No one is stopping you going to the wild," Dr Whitewood replied, "I just think you should wait a few more days. I'm working on something- and I think it could really work."

"You said that the last time," Jana said glumly picking at her blanket, "And the time before that. They've just made me feel worse. I've accepted that I'm going to be stuck like this forever and that's that. Now leave me alone."

"Is there no way to contact the wild pack?" Aran asked, "Hearing from her father might help."

Meinir shook her head, "Gerwyn gave Alric his old phone but there's no signal anyway."

"You said I was psychically bonded to Emilia," Matei said, "Could I use the bond to communicate with them?"

Aran tried to suppress a laugh but Meinir hit him, giving a stern look until he was quiet again.

"No, Matei," Meinir said apologetically, "It doesn't work like that, or at least it's never been noticed. Psychic bonding is quite rare, and no doubt in your case the bond was only forged because Emilia is a fire walker."

Matei nodded, "So I can feel what she feels, and you told me it's the same for her, but I could mute it on my end to stop her feeling any pain I experience. But apart from that..."

"I'm not a pack elder," Meinir replied, "So I only know the legends. The legends weren't meant to more than fairy stories really. You'll have to ask them when we go to the wild. But you should probably try to master Eolas and Ansian first, once you've mastered them, other skills will be easier to develop."

Matei nodded, "I've been trying, but I think it will be easier in the wild."

"Everything will be easier in the wild," Jana said, "At least there I won't be nagged into being a guinea pig every five minutes."

"Look, Jana," Dr Whitewood said in an angry tone, "I understand you're upset, but I'm just trying to help you. I want you to look through this folder, you'll notice that there are a lot of differences between your genes and Meinir's. Any one those genes could play a role in creating a cure. But you need to be willing to give the cures a chance, otherwise you'll never know, and you'll never get your wolf back."

"I might never get my wolf back anyway," Jana said miserably.

"Jana," Meinir began softly, "I was scared too at first but I knew better than to throw an opportunity away to be me again. And, yes, it didn't last, but I'm glad that I even had those few weeks..."

"But I have an opportunity to be me again," Jana said angrily, "And that's back in the wild pack. Where my family is, where there'll be people who can help me figure this all out."

Matei stood up suddenly, looking like he was barely able to keep calm, "I'm going to get some tea, anyone want anything?"

"You don't drink tea," TJ whispered to him, before standing up and leaving the room too.

"I don't doubt your family will support you through all of this," Dr Whitewood said, "But science will provide the cure."

"And the source of destruction," Jana argued back.

"I can see there's no way to try to persuade you," Dr Whitewood said, "Just let me know if you change your mind."

"Jana, what on earth is your problem?" Selina asked astounded, "The alpha I knew, she would never have thrown away an opportunity."

"Well, I'm not your alpha anymore," Jana said, "Matei is."

Selina shook her head, "No. Matei is standing in- for the moment. It's temporary. You're still our alpha. We're just giving you a break at the moment."

Jana shook her head, "No. Selina, I'm going back to the wild pack, to stay, permanently. Don't take this the wrong way, but all my problems started when I came to the human world- yes, I've met some amazing people. But this is a sign to me- a sign that I'm never really going to be happy here. If Matei wants to stay then- then he'll be your alpha."

"Matei would never leave you," Aran replied, "And I think you should try the cure."

Jana shook her head, "There's no point."

Meinir sighed, "I know there's more to this than you're not telling us. You need to be honest about why you're so against these cures."

"Yeah," Katrina agreed, "This isn't you, Jana. And all that about needing to find your family in the wild, we are your family, right here. Unless... Of course... Now it all makes sense..."

Aran frowned, "What does?"

"What was her name again?" Katrina pondered, "Alli, Amy..."

"Arianne?" Meinir asked, "Oh, gods, Jana."

"Yes, Arianne," Katrina said, "Jana's mother. That's why Jana wanted the wedding to be at the old territory in Wales, so her mother could be there. But now... You want your mother because... No, Jana, that's not an option at all."

"I'm a monster," Jana said, "An abomination. I don't belonging in the human world and I probably won't belong in the wild wood either. What other options are there?"

"Look," Meinir said, "I coped, didn't I? The semi-literate beta wolf from the middle of nowhere. You've got so much more going for you Jana, you can't just give up."

"I've been through a lot," Jana began, "It's too much now. I just want to be happy."

Katrina thought for a second, "You know what, we will go back to the wild, and we will visit your mother's grave and then we'll figure everything out, because I'm sure that being there will remind you just how much your mother would want you to live."

Jana sobbed loudly, and Aran hugged her as she cried, "But Mummy was perfect, I'm not. Mummy would be able to handle all of this, I just can't."

"You think you're nothing like your mother?" Meinir said with a grin, "You know I'd need thousands of paws to count the number of times I've said you're too much like her for your own good. Like a moment ago, when you were being so stubborn. It's easy to forget what someone is really like when you lost them at such a young age, but take it from someone who knew her very well, you're too much like your mother and the only reason why the pack ever had an issue with your reforms, well it was because Arianne had suggested them only a decade or so before. It was too soon for a lot of us. Remind us too much of her, yes, the old wild wolfbloods hated her modern ideas, but everyone loved her all the same and they love you too, for being so much like her and being her daughter. And I know full well that if she was here- she'd be sending you to stand in the corner of your tent for being so grumpy and then she'd take you to Dr Whitewood herself because there's no way she'd ever just let you give up on yourself. Arianne would never give up on anyone."

Jana looked up with tear stained eyes.

"I know how spiteful and low it is to say this," Aran said, "But your mother miscarried five times before having you. She'd be really- I can't think of the human word- but she'd be really really irritated if you just gave up like this. In fact it would be the only time she'd ever really be angry at you. You meant a lot to your mother, don't ever forget that."

"And she wants to see you and Matei get married," Katrina said, "And your father does as well. I'm not psychic but I can tell."

Jana nodded, wiping the tears out of her eyes, "Ok. I'll do it. I'll try the cures. Because it's what my mum would want me to do. She'd want me to be happy."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"You don't put milk in green tea," TJ said to Matei.

Matei slammed the mug down on the table, earning odd looks from the nurses and other patients.

"I'm pretending it's vodka," Matei said, "God know I need it right now. I'm her family, we're her family. I know she grew up with the wild pack but now she just wants to turn her back on all of us and I'm not going to let that happen. You don't know what she says in her sleep- about how she just wants to be in heaven with her mum. It's hard seeing someone you care about just give up like that."

"Her mother wouldn't want her to give up," TJ said, "I mean I know she'd died when Jana was really young. But mothers are mothers. And apparently Arianne was pushier and more stubborn than most."

Matei nodded, "If we could get her to understand that her mother wants her to be alive. That might just be enough to get her to try the cures and then if one of them were to work.…"

"We beat you to it," Katrina said, as she joined them looking happy, "But Jana wants you to be there. She wants all of her family to be there."

TJ grinned, "Knew she'd change her mind."

"You know I think sometimes remembering who you and where you come from," Matei said, "It helps you find who you are again. Like when Emilia and I lost everything after the fire, the first thing I did was go back to reading, because it reminded me of the times when mum and dad would nag me about reading on Christmas- I wasn't supposed to- or it would remind me of my grandpa teaching me how to read. And then I'd be able see parts of them that I'd inherited and I knew they'd live on in me."

Katrina tried to hold back tears, "Gods, you and Jana. Always making me cry."

"Well come on," TJ said, "Our alpha has summoned us."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

The room had been decorated to look a lot like their den in Newcastle. In fact it had been where the pack had been sleeping for the past week or so, given that they'd run out of money for hotel rooms. There were sleeping bags balled up in one corner of the room, and the bins were beginning to overflow with pizza boxes and chocolate wrappers.

"They are all going on a juice cleanse," Amanda announced, looking at the rubbish with utter sadness, "No excuses."

Jana smiled, "Matei's never going to put up with that."

"He'll have no choice," Amanda said, "I can be as scary as Imara if I need to be."

Jana grinned, "But you know he'll only come to me begging for chocolate frappes at the Kafe."

Amanda sighed, "What are we going to do?"

"There's one place where there's no coffee, no pizza, and no chocolate," Jana suggested.

"The wild," Amanda said, "And I do hope the wedding is still going ahead?"

Jana nodded, "I was mean to Matei earlier. And we haven't had much of a chance to just be on our own- no dates for ages. I was hoping to arrange something special in Rome before we went to the conference."

Amanda smiled, "Well, maybe tonight, I'll see what we can arrange. But just don't ask me anything ok? It'll be a surprise."

Jana grinned, "Thank you."

Matei and TJ walked into the room, Katrina following, carrying a box of what looked like candles.

"Care to explain?" Matei said, pointing at the box.

"Spirits are attracted to fire," Jana explain, "I'm not sure about wolfbloods ones, but it's worth a go isn't it?"

TJ smiled, "Why not?"

"And I thought my job couldn't get any weirder," Dr Whitewood said as she entered the room carrying a large box of medical equipment, "I've never attended a seance during a medical trial."

"Actually," Matei began, "This isn't too weird, back in the 60s and 70s people used to take certain medicines during seances and the like."

"And the like, um, yes," Amanda said, "But if this is what Jana wants."

Jana nodded, "I want my whole family to be here. I mean it's ok, if my Dad isn't here. But I want my mum to be here if she can. And well, where's Selina?"

"She's not allowed to attend seances," TJ said, "But she says good luck."

Jana nodded, "Fair enough. Seances were pretty normal in the pack, not with candles of course. It was traditional to keep a few items that belonged to the deceased person and then every Samhain the elders would group together to hear what they had to say. Elders over eighteen of course."

"That sucks," TJ said, "I would pay to hear what your mum had to say to them."

"She made it clear what she thought of them long before she left this world," Aran said appearing in the doorway.

"Seance!" Meinir cheered, "I've missed seances."

"But you were just a beta wolf?" Matei asked in confusion.

"Charming," Meinir said, "It's your fiancée's fault that she never learnt the art of eavesdropping."

"Shall we just get on with it then?" Dr Whitewood asked.

"I guess this is a little too out there for a scientist," Amanda said.

"So were wolfbloods until a couple of years ago," Dr Whitewood replied, "But I'm opened minded to most things." She left the rest unsaid, that there had been tests to try to find spirits, but that they had all failed.

"Who cares about if this can be scientifically proved?" Jana asked, "My mum never cared much for the rules. She'll appear, even if no one else ever does."

Meinir nodded, "And I mean you have to just enjoy seances because it's exciting- waiting to see what's going to happen next."

Jana nodded, "It's a wild wolfblood thing, although humans apparently take part in seances too. It doesn't really matter too much if you believe or not. I do, but a lot of people don't, and I'm not fussed about what everyone thinks. It's more about remembering and respecting your ancestors than calling them down from heaven for a nice chat."

Dr Whitewood smiled, "Well, we should probably start now anyway. From what I've been told, your mother doesn't like being kept waiting."

Meinir nodded, "It's part of alpha queen syndrome."

Jana laughed, "That's such a beta wolf thing to say."

"Erm, Jana," TJ said.

"Dr Whitewood's right though," Jana replied, "And we're going to want to throw a party if this does all work, and Amanda's not going to let us stay up till the early hours...again."

Amanda winced a little at that, but it was clear she wasn't going to reprimand them, in fact she looked extremely happy.

In fact the whole pack look ecstatic.

"What?" Jana asked in confusion, then looked down at her hands.

The black veins crept along her hands in their usual way, and Jana felt her heart nearly burst with happiness.

Katrina passed a pocket mirror to Jana, and she nodded in thanks, unable to speak.

She immediately noticed that her eyes were glowing yellow and howled with joy.

"She's back!" Jana yelled as the whole pack howled with joy, and she was sure she could hear her mother howling too.


	15. Chapter 15

"So you're attacking me with make-up and hair straighteners," Jana began, trying to look as menacing as she could whilst wearing bright pink PJs, "And you won't even tell me why? I'm your alpha, I deserve more respect. You could at least tell me!"

Katrina couldn't help but laugh as Jana made her eyes glow yellow and started veining up, "What part of surprise do you not understand?"

"Oh, I understand surprises," Jana carried on, "It's you lot that don't understand they I don't like them."

"Well," Katrina said, before pausing thoughtfully, "Well. You'll see."

Jana raised her eyebrows, "When we get back to Newcastle..."

Selina returned to the room with several dresses in a variety of bright colours. Jana gave her a pleading look.

"Our alpha," Selina began, "Fearlessly faces human and wolfblood tyrants, had been the leader of two packs, even stood strong as the world discovered our secrets. But a little bit of make-up and a dress and a nice little surprise... And sudden she starts acting like it's the end of the world."

Jana rolled her eyes, "I just don't see why I need to get dressed up so much. I mean, it's obvious this is something to do with Matei but he doesn't care if I dress up or not, he just likes me as I am."

"Jana," Katrina said, "When a guy says that he never actually means it- I mean yes, Matei likes you for being you, but guys like it when you dress up as well."

"I wonder what Matei's going through," Jana said in a sympathetic tone.

"He's got Amanda to help him," Selina said, "He'll be fine. Now which dress?"

"That one," Jana said begrudgingly, "But only because I remember my mum wearing one like it when I was young. I have no idea when it comes to dresses."

Katrina looked at the dress- it was navy blue with little white flowers around the waist, "You know most girls try to not look like their mothers."

Jana nodded, "Everyone said that my mother looked at least five years younger than her actually age, so I guess I won't have to worry too much."

Selina smiled, "It'll only be a couple of weeks until we go to Wales. Won't it?"

Jana nodded, "I want to visit the wild pack in Scotland first. To make sure Emilia is ok and to help them arrange for travelling to Wales. They're never going to be comfortable with travelling in cars- especially after what happened with Kincaid."

"And how long will it take them?" Selina asked.

"Depends on whether the cubs decided to travel with them," Jana admitted, "With cubs- at least a week. Without the cubs- probably four days."

"And would you travel with them?" Katrina asked.

"Depends on what my Dad wants," Jana said, "And how much encouragement the pack needs- they hate going south this close to summer. If everything goes to plan, I'd like to travel by car, I don't really want to be covered in mud when I get married, and wild pack showers are torture. I suppose I like the modern world a little too much- I can't stomach the idea of being away from warm showers and fast food and coffee for too long."

"I second that," Selina said, "Although it will be interesting to see how the wild pack live. Matei seems fascinated with them."

Jana nodded, "I worry sometimes that he actually wants to be wild."

Katrina shook her head, "He'd never cope without chocolate frappes."

Jana smiled, "I guess he just misses Emilia."

Selina nodded, "We'll see the wild pack soon. Don't worry, everything will be ok."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"There are two types of wolfblood dating," Meinir explained to a nervous Matei, "One is dating in human form, the other is dating in wolf form. Dating in human form is supposedly much more straight forward, but it involves going to the cinema or going out for dinner and all the silly manners that come with those activities, dating in wolf form in my opinion is much simpler, you run around for a while out in the countryside and then you hunt together, ignoring any social statuses as to who gets to eat first, gets the alpha's share etc. And then you fall asleep under the stars. Of course, we are too far for you and Jana to go on a proper date, so it's going to have to be human dating."

"Meinir," Aran said with a smile, "Jana's not like most wild girls. Just remember that she doesn't like dead plants or pasta and you'll be ok."

Matei nodded, still not feeling massively reassured. He was dressed a lot more formally than he'd ever dressed before. Of course, Matei had decided not to go to prom because he couldn't take Jana with him and then of course, the big reveal happened and the crash and they'd missed prom anyway. But he could image it being just like this. He missed wearing layers, but it was too warm in Southern France and to be honest Matei couldn't care less about being near the French Rivera (Emilia however loved Southern France), he preferred the Alps.

"Aran, just be quiet," Meinir reprimanded, "Owen is the only guy you've ever dated, so you can't give advice. TJ, you are marginally better. But I take full responsibility for educating Matei on how to court a wild wolfblood alpha princess."

Aran raised his eyebrows, "And how many of your relationships ended well? Didn't your last boyfriend nearly end up dead?"

Meinir gave Aran a stern look, "It was hardly my fault that he didn't know how to fish properly and nearly hung himself. You have to admit most of the men in the wild pack are a little... Stupid. I was just trying to make do with what I could find until Alric arranged my marriage to a far more suitable suitor."

Aran rolled his eyes, "And now. Now what will happen?"

"I'm exploring my options," Meinir said with a smile, "I have many many options."

"I hope I get to meet these options before I head back to the wild," Aran said sternly.

"Oh, come on!" Meinir said, rolling her eyes, "Stop playing the protective brother card. You can't even raise a bruise when you punch, and five of my ex-boyfriends have been placed in the infirmary after dates."

TJ shook his head, "Matei, stop worrying, and don't listen to these two. Otherwise you'll be eating raw meat and ordering goat's skulls as table decorations."

"Goat's skulls?!" Meinir asked in horror, "We're Wolfbloods not Satanists."

Matei sighed, "I was wondering more about what Jana would find romantic, stuff like that."

"Ok, I'm out of here," TJ said just as Amanda appeared in the doorway.

"Just be yourself," Amanda said to her foster son, "Stop worrying so much."

"Well as I was saying earlier," Meinir continued, "Human dating. Guys should pay for the food, they should pull out the chair for their lady, take her coat etc. They should know about fine wine, or in your case I guess it will be which fizzy drink tastes best, they should avoid conversations about religion or politics on first dates and they should always walk the girl home if possible, or if leaving in the same taxi do not to take it as an invitation for anything more. Oh, and don't order food like lobster which you don't know how to eat properly or smelly foods like garlic."

"So basically do everything I can to treat Jana like a princess," Matei said, "And don't eat smelly food."

"Yup," Meinir said, "See I do give awesome relationship advice."

"You got all of that from the internet, May," Aran said.

"It doesn't matter," Meinir argued, "Matei needs know how to date someone far above his social status."

"Where are they going anyway?" Aran said, "I thought it was that all you can eat buffet. Hardly the Rice."

"Ritz," Matei corrected, "Look, I think I'll be fine. Thanks for the advice."

"Any time," Meinir added, "You know maybe I should become a professional relationship councillor, I mean think about, my relationships were all on rocky ground at one point or another and it all turned out well."

"Yes, the blonde one only ended up with a permanent limp and intense anxiety," Aran said, rolling his eyes.

Meinir shrugged, "The other one was nearly strangled, that one just fell out of a tree. Hardly my fault, Aran. And they all lived."

Amanda looked horrified, and then whispered to Matei, "You'll be fine, you're not at all like Meinir."

Matei couldn't help but laugh.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana smiled as Matei climbed into the land-rover, still with a little assistance from Amanda but he was so much stronger now. Jana thought he looked handsome in his suit and felt worried that they were going somewhere really posh where there were going to be fancy dishes like lobster or several sets of cutlery that had to be used in a particular order. At least she too old to drink alcohol, that incident with Meinir's gang's infamous potato brew had taught Jana that alcohol was to be avoided at all costs.

"Wow!" Matei said with wide eyed surprise, "You look amazing, Jana."

"Thank you," Jana said blushing and staring at the floor awkwardly, "You look amazing too."

"Have a good time!" Amanda said, before closing the car door gently and waving as they started to drive off.

"Amanda can be so embarrassing at times," Matei said.

"All mothers are," Jana said, "In the wild, feast days only happened on alpha's birthdays and the seasonal holidays like Yule or Midsummer. But my mum would have these massive arguments with the elders after I did anything that she thought was amazing- like the first time I ate meat, or when I first sat up or started walking- saying that they should organise a feast in celebration. It was so awkward for everyone especially for my father."

"I remember when we were younger, Emilia and I," Matei said, "And I'd made friends with this girl at my reading club, Holly, actually, I think. And well you know what Emilia is like, she told my parents we were dating, which was completely not true. And then every time my mum saw Holly or her mum she'd always make a big deal of stopping to say hi to them and making it sound like Holly and I were dating but you know, in the way that parents do, where it's all so sweet to them."

"You and Holly?" Jana asked curious.

"Don't worry," Matei said, taking Jana's hand in his, "Holly likes crime fiction, I'm more of a sci-fi fantasy guy."

"Total deal breaker then?" Jana asked with a smile.

"Absolutely," Matei said with a grin.

"Are sure you're ok with Wales?" Jana asked nervously, "For the wedding."

Matei nodded, "If it's what you want, then of course we'll go. I just want us to be happy."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Emilia looked up at the sunlight glaring down blinding onto the hill top. Her arms ached where she was tied tightly to the rock.

So this was the Kronock that she'd heard so much about. It was a death sentence really. She could understand why it worked- one day here could break a wolfblood, three days could kill them.

But Emilia didn't know how long she'd be left here, or what would happen if she was never found.

She couldn't think like that, she reminded herself, her pack would find her, or Matei would find her. Somehow her brother always knew if she was in trouble, and yes it could be aggravating, not being allowed to fight her own battles, but she didn't mind any more. She just wanted to be rescued.

Hafren appeared before her, a dark haired monster blocking out the midday sun, she held a bottle of water in her hands, and a bowl of what looked like fresh venison.

"Just let me go, Hafren," Emilia begged, "I swear I'll go straight back to the human world."

"And tell Jana and Matei?" Hafren replied, "I'm not that stupid. If you go back to the human world, then Jana will be the next alpha. And that can't be allowed to happen. But if a little alpha cub goes a wandering too far and loses her way back to the pack, well then they'll have to choose whoever they see to be the next best, won't they?"

"They still wouldn't choose you!" Emilia yelled venomously.

Hafren smiled, "They would have to eventually. It depends on how small they'd want the pack to be."

Emilia shook her head in horror, "You'd let your pack die. Your friends. Your family."

"Welcome to the wild," Hafren answered with a menacing grin.


	16. Chapter 16

"How did I just know it was going to be Italian food?" Jana said with a smile as they arrived outside of the restaurant.

Matei shrugged, smiling too, "I have no idea. Must have just been a good guess."

Jana laughed, hitting him playfully, "Well come on then, I'm starving!"

Matei grinned, "Of course you are."

Matei opened the car door but before climbing out, he stopped feeling a pain in his stomach.

"What's wrong?" Jana asked in concern.

Matei's face was pale and he looked worried, Jana could tell he was in a lot of pain and hugged him to her side.

"I think..." Matei began in a voice barely above a whisper, "I think Emilia might be in trouble. I've been getting this pain a lot today, the doctors say there's nothing wrong. Meinir said it's because Emilia and I are psychically bonded- I can feel her pain."

Jana hugged him tightly, "I'll call the pack. We'll leave immediately. We need to go to the wild as soon as possible."

Matei nodded, tears blurring his eyes, his sister was in danger and he wasn't going to abandon her.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"You have to eat something," Amanda said for what had to be the billionth time as Matei waited restlessly next to the car.

They were on the Eurotunnel train now and only ten minutes from Folkstone but it was still going to be a good twelve hour drive until they reached the wild pack. For Matei that was too long- far too long.

Jana and TJ watched him from where they were standing next to Imara's landrover, sharing worried looks. Every now and then Jana tried to use Eolas too see if she could see Emilia but it was no use, for one thing they were too far away and also Jana couldn't use Eolas in an environment like a train, with no connection to the wild wood.

"John's already started heading out to them," Amanda said, "He will arrive very soon and contact us once he knows what's going on."

Matei nodded but he still felt nervous and queasy, "I should never have left her alone in the wild. I should have gone with her or insisted that she came back to Newcastle."

Amanda sighed, "Your sister is not a baby anymore. It was her decision to stay in the wild. I wanted her to come home too Matei but we have to realise that Emilia is growing up and we can't always protect her. Even if she had stayed- it would only be a year or so until you're off at uni, you won't always be able to stay together."

"The wild is dangerous," Matei said, "Emilia's not Jana or Meinir. She wasn't raised in that environment, she doesn't know how to handle it."

"They will teach her," Amanda told her foster son firmly, "She is their heir. They're hardly going to abandon her!"

"Jana told me the pack never really supported her," Matei argued, "What if they turned against Emilia?"

Amanda sighed, "I know you blame yourself for what's happened, but you had no control over any of this. And as for them turning against Jana- they didn't. In fact all of them agreed to her reading lessons and the use of human medicine, even if it took a long while- and Jana wasn't the first one to suggest those changes, her mother was. The reason why Jana suffered so many problems with her leadership was because she reminded them too much of Arianne and a lot of the pack elders were still grieving."

Matei nodded in understanding, "So they didn't hate Jana?"

Amanda shook her head, "No, Jana reminded them too much of what they'd lost. In fact the pack loved her a lot. Even Meinir at the end of the day couldn't stay mad at Jana, and you see how much they are like sisters now. As for Emilia, well I can't say what's happening now, or that I really understand pack politics enough to know what will happen next. All I know is that she's Jana's choice, so she will always be compared to Jana and expected to encourage Jana's reforms- which I have no doubt she will do. But she is not Arianne's daughter, so it will not hurt the pack as much. As for the ones who might cause trouble- well they all used to be members of Meinir's gang, before she became human. Meinir left strict instructions for Aran and Owen about how to manage them. If Meinir returns to wild pack she will make sure they are fighting on Emilia's side. The way I see it, Emilia had far fewer enemies than Jana ever did."

"I just miss her so much," Matei admitted, tears stinging his eyes.

Amanda hugged her foster son, "I do too. We all do."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana stood up again, feeling dizzy and TJ had to help stop her falling over.

"You need to stop now," TJ said to her sternly, "You know you can't use Eolas here."

Jana sulked, "I just wanted to make sure. I guess I just tried too hard."

TJ sighed, "You need to be careful Jana. When we get to the wild- we might need to fight- you're the only one who really knows the wild pack. Knows what all the members are like. Apart from Meinir and Aran of course, but neither of them can fight. You might be the only one who can help. But you'll need your strength."

Katrina nodded in agreement, as she walked the short distance to where they were standing, holding out a bacon sandwich to Jana, "Aran insisted. He told me that wild wolfbloods do this thing called red meat loading before a fight, I think it's supposed to be a bit like how humans eat a big carb meal before running a marathon. TJ's right about you needing to be strong. If we're facing a wolfblood like Hafren again..."

"It's not just wild wolfblood who red meat load," Selina said, "A lot of tames do too."

Jana nodded, taking a bite out the bacon sandwich, which was a little on the raw side, just how she liked it, "I'll need to talk to Meinir and Aran about a strategy and if they've got any idea what might be going on. They know the wild pack better than I do. I'm thinking that someone from Meinir's old gang might be behind this..."

Jana's phone rang loudly, interrupting them.

"Wait, we have signal here?" TJ asked in confusion.

"Appears so," Katrina said checking her phone.

"Hello?" Jana asked, before her face turned pale, she quickly put the phone on loud speaker.

"I'm calling to offer you a deal. I work for the British government and can prove that to you. I understand at the moment that you are in danger from a group of individuals posing as government officials. We want to move you to a group of safe houses on the outskirts of Newcastle and our intelligence has informed us about the wild pack's location too. We have chosen these houses because of their proximity to the wild. We want to relocate both your pack and the wild pack to a safer area to be protect you until these individuals can be identified and dealt with. Trust me, Jana, we hate people pretending to be government employees even more than you do and we have no intention of hurting any of you or enrolling you in psychotic drugs trials. What we want in exchange is for your pack to help us in a few programmes that you benefit from wolfblood enhance abilities- mostly involving helping our teams to catch criminals and protecting national and international security. Naturally, I can't discuss matters any further here but if we could arrange a date to speak at the den, or perhaps at the flat that would be great. We won't be asking a lot of you guys, you'll still be able to work, go to school, hang out on a Friday night. It won't be any different from the work you did for Segolia, Jana. And well, I can't promise anything at the moment, but we may also be able to arrange scholarships for sports and uni. In my opinion, you're just kids, and the law says you should be protected and you need a break."

Jana smiled, before looking at her pack who had all assembled around her, "I need to discuss this with my pack."

"Well," Selina began, "I had discussed something like this with the government anyway, or so I thought. It's only right that I use my martial arts for good. So I'm in."

"I'm no academic genius," TJ said, "So as long as they can prove they're legit, then I'm in."

"Me too," Imara added.

"Me as well," Matei said, "But if it interferes with my studying..."

"I have to make sure I can run the Kafe well," Katrina said, "But after that I'm willing to do what I can."

"How will you protect the wild pack?" Meinir asked, "I don't like the idea of them being so close to human civilisation. I don't want them to get sick from human illnesses or to be turned into some kind of zoo attraction."

"They won't," the man on the other end of the phone said, "But we will insist on the younger children being sent to school. We'll also sort out national insurance numbers so that the adult can get jobs if they wish and access healthcare. But it will be a gated community- completely secluded from the outside world and at least as big as your natural territory, with plenty of game to hunt. A bit like a national park."

Aran smiled a little at that, "The elders will have to discuss it. But I shouldn't see why they would be too opposed to the idea. The pack is changing- we want to combine our old traditions with new modern human ones. Update but not destroy our traditions. Recent events have shown us the benefits of living closer to humans. We may still want to move to our ancestral grounds on occasion, particularly in Wales."

"We understand," the man said warmly, "We actually want to study your traditions, with you elders permission of course. A kind of wolfblood anthropology. We want to compare them to the traditions of early human civilisations and Amazonian tribes- I've been told by Ceri that the wolfblood packs and humans shared a much closer relationship during Viking times than they do today. And of course, you are all free to travel as you wish, although we would like it if you would tell us first, so we can arrange for the appropriate security."

"And what about genetic testing?" Jana asked.

"We will require more samples," the man said tentatively, "But only because so many were lost to these rogue employees. But only one more sample from each of you- sequencing technology is good today. We will arrange meetings with geneticists to discuss the results with you, unless of course you'd prefer Dr Whitewood to tell you about them."

"Ok, I'm in," Jana said, "But I need to make sure that I can work at the Kafe and still attend pack meetings."

"With good evidence," Amanda began, "Only if you can prove that you mean us no ill. Then I definitely agree."

"Same," Meinir and Aran both echoed.

"Well it seems we are all in agreement," Jana said, "I will discuss it with my father when I arrive at the wild pack and arrange a meeting of the elders. Oh, and one other thing..."

"Yes?" the man asked.

"I'm going to be married in probably less than a fortnight's time," Jana said, "And the wedding will be in a remote part of Wales, Cadir Idris. I'll tell you more once I've talk to the pack and we're on the move, there's no wi-fi or phone signal in the wild."

"Well, of course, we'll be installing a generator for electricity, running water, and other basic necessities in the new territory," the man said, "But if you could us up to date, that would be great. I'm glad you've agreed to this. Thank you."

"No, thank you," Jana said, "I never wanted humans and wolfbloods to be enemies."

"Well as long as the elders don't turn us into dog food," Aran said, "I think we might have found a solution to our problems."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Emilia felt drowsy as the sun beat down on her. It had not rained in a good few days and she knew she was severely dehydrated, it hurt to put any weight on her swollen feet and she had back pain from where the rock dug in sharply and pain in her neck from where she slumped forward when asleep. She was hungry too from being starved. She didn't know how long she'd been there but she suspected it couldn't have been more than a week because you couldn't survive that long without water. Even if you were a wolfblood.

Every know and then she'd catch the scent of a wolfblood approaching the area but she didn't have any strength left to cry out. Hafren had disguised the area with the scent of other animals so as to mask where the cub was. Emilia just hoped that the pack would eventually be able to see past it and find her in time.

Her head throbbed from where it was cut and likely badly infected. She chided herself for being so reckless as to insult Hafren but it wasn't a Covaci thing to shut and put up. Now she was paying the price for it.

She watched as Hafren sat on a rock, carving some kind of weapon using a sharp edged stone. Owen sat opposite her, eating a large hunk of meat- wild boar, Emilia suspected. Every now and then he'd look up at her with a cruel grin, showing just how much he was enjoying his meal.

"It'll be over soon, little cub," Hafren said in a voice that seemed incredulously soft, "Just sleep. In a few hours it will all be over."

Emilia was about to obey when suddenly there was a loud bang that made her instantly alert, even Hafren and Owen jumped up, sniffing the air suspiciously.

"So where are they again?" a familiar voice asked, "If I have to hike for three hours Jana...!"

There was a growl, "We were lucky to find this trail. Only an hour's walk at most, so you can stop complaining TJ."

"Do any of you smell that?" said a voice that made Emilia almost cry out in joy, as much as she tried not to she cried tears of relief.

"Very funny, Matei," TJ said, "You're a fine one to talk, you wear far too much aftershave to try to impress Jana."  
"No I'm being serious," Matei replied, "It's like someone trying to mask something with air freshener. Someone's trying block out a scent with another scent. And I think.… I think I can tell what the other scent is..."

"Matei!" Jana yelled out, "Wait! You don't know where you're going!"

Emilia smiled tiredly, of course Matei would be able to tell where she was, without using any Eolas at all.

She could tell he was only a few meters away now and Hafren and Owen had wolfed out in preparation. Moments later a large black wolf and a smaller red wolf appeared in the clearing followed by several other wolves, they formed a semi circle as the red wolf sprang her fangs sinking deep into Hafren's shoulder and her claws tearing at the larger wolf's face.

TJ and Aran appeared to be taking on Owen, who Emilia knew was a good fighter, but when Selina approached from his blind side, he stood no chance. She pinned him, fang sinking into his neck until the wolf was forced to transform and climb up a tree for safety.

Matei ran straight towards his sister, transforming quickly, and pulling away the ropes that attached her to the rock surface, she stumbled into his arms before her knees gave way. He carefully lay her on the ground, propping her head up on his leg as he rummaged in his rucksack, trying to hold back sobs.

He'd changed, Emilia thought, he seemed a lot more mature now, as if something had changed him. He was no long a cub. He was an alpha.

He held out a water bottle and helped Emilia drink which she did immediately and fast, gulping down large amount. She felt her head clear a little and she felt better and cooler but she was far from ok, and when she motioned for more Matei refused.

"You can't just drink water, Emilia," Matei said, "It will make you sick. No, no! Don't go to sleep!"

Emilia nodded, trying to keep her eyes from closing.

"You'll be ok now," Matei said, "You're safe now. Don't try to speak, Emilia."

"Emilia!" Amanda yelled, as raced towards the siblings, kneeling on the ground next to them, John joining her moments later.

"The wild pack picked up Jana's scent," John said, "They were closer than Jana had originally thought- were patrolling the area. They've imprisoned Hafren and Owen. Everything will be ok, Emilia. You're safe now."

Emilia nodded, "Please can I sleep?"

Amanda and John shared a worried look with Matei before nodding.

Emilia smiled before drifting off.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Cadwr paced backwards and forwards outside of the tent, his face drawn and his eyes full of worry. Gwyn and her friends watched him, sitting a few meters way and trying to complete their weaving work but failing- not that anyone would care too much today.

"She'll be ok," Gwyn tried to reassure him, "She's a fire walker."

Cadwr nodded, but let out a nervous sigh and still kept pacing until Jana appeared in the doorway, looking calm and relaxed.

"Dr Whitewood says that Emilia is doing well," Jana told them, "She'll be ok. Make a full recovery."

Cadwr smiled, "Can I see her?"

Jana grinned, "Yeah, go on. She's been asking for you."

"He's her enaid cymar alffa," Gwyn told her ex-alpha.

"Good," Jana said simply,

"What did the elders say?" Gwyn asked, "About the move. Is it going ahead? I don't mean Wales, I know that's been sorted out for ages. I mean Newcastle."

"I'm not allowed to mention anything," Jana said, putting on her authoritive alpha voice, "Not until there's been an official announcement."

Gwyn nodded, "But..."

"Yes," Jana said with a sigh, "The elders have finally agreed. They want to move the pack to the new territory in Newcastle."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
"I say we burn them," one of the elders yelled, earning jeers of encouragement from the other pack members.

Hafren and Owen stood timidly in front of the pack, which surrounded them in a tight circle. Even Emilia had joined them.

"I say our heir decides," Aran said, "I think Emilia should decide their punishment."

The pack all nodded in agreement before turning to their heir with expectant eyes.

Emilia looked up worriedly at Meinir who gave her a reassuring smile, and hugged the young girl to her side.

"Why would you do this, Hafren?" Meinir asked in a pained voice, "We were best friends. Emilia's like a little sister to me. And you, Owen? How dare you hurt Emilia and Aran like that?!"

"May," Aran said, "Enough."

"No one will burn," Emilia began shakily, still feeling fragile and traumatised from what had happened to her.

Matei held his sister's hand and look at her reassuring, telling her subconsciously to not be afraid.

"What would you do?" Emilia asked looking up at Matei and Meinir, "Is exile too lenient? I just can't bring myself to send people to their deaths."

Meinir gave her a smile, "If exile is justice for you, then say that."

Matei nodded in agreement, "You don't have to be afraid of them anymore."

"Exile," Emilia said in wobbly voice, before clearing her throat, "Exile. They should be exiled."

A few of the pack members grumbled about the cub being too soft on the traitors. It appeared some of them just wanted a good show.

"Exile it is," Alric commanded, "These traitors will not be allowed within fifty leagues of our territory. And for those of you who wanted a good show- these are different days. Go and spar amongst yourselves, or better still help my daughter prepare for her wedding. We will be moving tomorrow. Now you two, go!"

Hafren and Owen transformed before darting away from the pack and Meinir and Aran shared a sad smile.

"I'm weak, aren't I?" Emilia asked, "That's why it was so easy for them to attack me."

Meinir shook her head, "No, carriad, you are doing great. You will be great alpha one day. I'll stay to help you, and now that you're moving to Newcastle... My house is only two miles away, so I'm expecting you to visit every day."

Emilia grinned, "Of course."

"And mine is only _one_ mile away," Matei said, "So you _are_ visiting me every day."

Emilia smiled, "I'll visit all of you. And I'll back at school as well too."

"Oh, great!" Matei said sarcastically, earning a thump from Emilia. He noticed that she could hit a lot harder now.

"Our packs will be together again," Emilia replied, "I'll be a daughter of two worlds now, just like Meinir and Jana."  
"Yes, all together," Meinir said, "One pack."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

 **Two weeks later**

"You look amazing!" Emilia exclaimed as she saw her almost sister in law standing in front of a long mirror wearing the most beautiful dress that Emilia had ever seen.

Jana turned around to smile at the young girl, the skirts of her emerald dress twirling elegantly, her hair pinned up in a thick braid around her head and also falling in delicate waves down the back.

"I hope Matei is behaving himself," Jana said sternly but still smiling, "He knows full well that we're still following the human tradition of the bride preparing separately from the groom- so any funny business..."

"Yes," Emilia said, "He knows. And anyway he's with Amanda, so he's going to be a while. Are you nervous?"

Jana shook her head, "Of course not. Matei's fy enaid cymar alffa. We're going to be together for the rest of time."

Emilia grinned, "You'll be my sister in law in less than an hour."

Jana smiled, "I hope I'll be a good sister in law."

"I know you will," Emilia said nodding exuberantly as Katrina entered the tent.

"You never told me why wolfblood brides don't wear white," Katrina said as she rearranged the bouquet which was balanced on an old herb preparation table.

"White's impractical," Jana began, "But it's not just that. Wolfbloods don't follow Christian traditions, so they're not bound by typical wedding rules. Christians wear white to symbolise chastity and purity. Wolfbloods, wild ones at least, they don't put as much importance on purity before union, or as humans call it abstainance before marriage. In fact the real marriage, is the... Well you know. The ceremony is just performance, but it can still be an important one. That's why I'm allowed to wear whatever colour I want, because Matei and I... We didn't abstain. I just have to make sure what I wear is worthy of an alpha princess and that's that."

"So basically if you got married in jeans and a t-shirt it would be a disaster," Katrina answered, "But a dress like yours, well, that has to be worthy, right?"

Jana nodded, "It's shop bought instead of charity bin scavenged. I could have asked the wild pack to make a dress but I stand for the human world now. It seems only right to blend a little bit of the human world with the wild wood today."

Katrina smiled, "Well it is a beautiful dress, and I do hope Matei has made an effort."

"Well, I hope he doesn't take fashion tips from Aran or Gerwyn," Jana said with a little giggle.

"Even I have to admit," Meinir said appearing in the doorway with a basket of herbs, "That Aran is hopeless at fashion. I tried to buy him human clothes and he just complained that he looked too much like Matei."

Jana rolled her eyes, "I suppose we should all be nice to him. After all Owen did betray him. There might be more wolves in the woods, but they were very close."

Meinir nodded, smiling grimly, "Rumour has it that- well I've not dared to tell Aran- Owen didn't hunt for the other pack, so to speak. Aparently him and Hafren..."

"Oh gods!" Jana exclaimed in shock, "Poor Aran. But yes, they are gone now, good riddance, and he need never know. Good to know you still have your old gang under your paw."

Meinir smiled, "Emilia's gang now really. They aren't allowed a human leader."

"You're still their leader," Jana argued, "And there's no need to be so pessimistic about the human part, they are still working on the sample I provided, they might find a cure soon."

Meinir nodded, "Either way, we're all together, all of us a a family. It doesn't matter to me about being wild or tame anymore. I'm happy with what I have."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
"I'm glad the vows aren't in Welsh," Matei said fidgeting as he waited by the altar, "But I guess I shouldn't have been shocked that they weren't the tradition ones. Wild wolfbloods don't have Christianity."

"Jana's pack? Well what do they believe?" TJ asked/

"A kind of Norse Paganism," Matei explained, "But Jana's agnostic- just sticks to the holidays. Meinir of course is a theist through and through. Most of the elders are devout too."

"So this is a Pagan wedding?" TJ asked, "Is Selina allowed to attend? She wasn't able to attend the seance because she said it was banned in her religion."

Matei shrugged, "It's not like anyone outside of the wild pack knows too much about Paganism. And I can't trust it all to be like the episodes of Charmed I watched when I was younger. We're not sacrificing animals or people so I think it will be ok. Just a normal handfasting, that's what Jana said."

"Handfasting?" TJ asked in confusion.

"Their name for wedding," Matei said, "Because the hands of the couple are bound with ribbons."

TJ nodded as John walked over to them, looking nervous, Cadwr trailing behind him.

"We're ready to start," John announced.

Matei looked towards the tent, seeing the curtain move out of the way to reveal the most beautiful sight that he had seen in his life.

Jana gave him a shy and nervous smile as she appeared, Katrina, Emilia and Meinir following behind her.

She walked slowly towards the altar where the rest of her family stood, her pack kneeled as she walked by and Gerwyn winked at her, Rhydian and Maddy standing at his side, Shannon and Tom standing next to them, grinning and wielding giant cameras.

She smiled at the then before stopping just in front of the altar. Matei could see that Jana's breathing was fast and she looked so scared- did she really want this, they were so young after all.

Matei reached for her hand and held it tightly. Jana looked up at him and smiled, nodding to reassure him that everything ok and this was what she wanted. He wanted to kiss her then, but tradition dictated that they had to say the vows first.

The priest stood before them, dressed in heavy white woollen robes and holding what appeared to be a chalice decorated with ink drawings of different animals.

"Before us stand two children of the wolf world," the priest began, "One a noble daughter of the wild wood, the other a son of the world of the sun. The sun and moon, the holiest of unions, and the most blessed and prosperous. And today we celebrate their union through this young couple as they grow from children to adults. Alphas in their own right.

"We call on the Gods and Goddesses of the wild wood and their human equivalents to bless their union. To protect them in all that they carry out in this life, and in their following lives also. As we wolfbloods know that this is not the first life nor the last where the enaid cymar alffas meet.

"We call on the elements to make this couple prosperous. Water- with you westerly tumultuous tides, give this union the sustenance it needs for longevity, fire- with your southerly scorches, give the couple passion and excitement, air- with your eastily eerieness allow the couple to grow and travel along their path together, as a seed travels on the wind, earth- with your northern steadiness, firmly cement this union. And of course, spirit, be present in all things, so that the love of these two enaid cymar alffas lives on throughout all their lives."

At the world spirit, Jana turned to look at a little mound of earth at the far edge of the clearing. She met her father's eyes and could tell that he was thinking the same thing too- that the words said today weren't so different from the ones he'd heard at his wedding. He looked at the priest intently and the priest gave a small almost imperceivable nod.

"And of course the ancestors," the priest continued, "We call on them today to guide this couple through their lives. If anyone know wishes to summon an ancestor of theirs to protect this young couple with their love, they may do so."

"Delena and Stefan," Matei and Emilia said in unison.

"Our parents," Matei said, "And I'd like it if my Grandpa Robert and Grandma Rozalia could be here too."

Emilia nodded, "That would be great."

"My dad," TJ added, looking up at Imara who nodded sadly, "He'd want to be here."

"And my cat," Katrina added, earning odd looks from most of the wild pack and smiles from the Newcastle and Stoneybridge packs, "Mr Nibbles would want to be here too."

"Arianne," Jana and Alric said solemnly, looking at each other through tear stained eyes.

"May it be so," the priest said after a half of minute of silence.

Jana and Matei felt the air rush around them and they felt the presence of someone or something close to them. They smiled to each other as they realised who it was and were astounded at the fact that something so impossible seemed to be happening right now.

Matei and Emilia both felt as if their parents and grandparents were there. Emilia could almost smell the baklava her grandmother would always be making.

TJ and Imara looked happy too as they knew that TJ's dad was there.

Katrina smiled as well as she was sure that she heard a soft meow and a little purring.

Jana looked at her father. Unlike the rest of her pack, she'd inherited some unusual gifts, and not just Ansian, which she often used when she wanted to remember her mother. Jana could see ghosts, or spirits as they preferred to be called, and so could her father.

And she could see her mother now, here. Her hair was loose and fell down to her waist in delicate curls, she wore a crown of blue flowers, and her emerald eyes were wide with joy and pride. She stood before her daughter, and although inaudible Jana could tell that she was saying that she loved her daughter more than anything else in the world. Jana wanted to hug her mother, but she knew it was impossible, so instead she opened her free hand and sense that her mother stood next to her, her hand holding Jana's ever so gently in a way that didn't feel at all real but so real at the same time.

"Daughter of the wild wood," the priest continued, "In the light and love of the Gods and Goddesses, in the wisdom of the ancestors and the blessings of the elements, do you accept this union?"

"In the light and love of the Gods and Goddesses, in the wisdom of the ancestors and the blessings of the elements," Jana replied, taking one of the ribbons and tieing it around her and Matei's joined hands, "I accept this union to fy enaid cymar alffa. In perfect love and perfect trust."

"And you Son of the world beyond," the priest began, In the light and love of the Gods and Goddesses, in the wisdom of the ancestors and the blessings of the elements, do you accept this union?"

"In the light and love of the Gods and Goddesses, in the wisdom of the ancestors and the blessings of the elements," Matei replied, taking the other ribbon and tieing it around their joined hands, "I accept this union to fy enaid cymar alffa. In perfect love and perfect trust."

"It is done!" the priest exclaimed, "Blessed be!"

The pack cheered and Matei was confused for a few moments before Jana pulled him towards her and kissed him exuberantly, earning jeers from the crowd.

Jana could hear her mother laugh in joy, but as the kiss went on a little, she could hear her telling Jana not to make a scene, even if it was her special day."

Jana pulled away, looking deeply into Matei's dark eyes with absolute joy and seeing it mirrored in his.

"Together," Jana said simply, as if the word encompassed everything they could ever want to say.

"Together," Matei echoed.


	17. Chapter 17

**Five years later**

"Grandpa?" the young blonde haired girl asked, her hair hanging in thin wavy braid down to the middle of her back, "Why are so old?"

Alric looked up at the young girl, who just smiled at him sweetly, with absolutely no fear at all. She was wolfblood of course, but she was Jana and Matei's adopted child (the first of many that they planned to have apparently) and he could instantly tell why she had been placed with them. She reminded him a lot of Jana as a small child. Utterly unafraid and blunt.

"Raven!" Jana said in a shocked voice picking up the toddler, "You can't say that to grandpa. Now come on, let's go and play with your cousins."

Alric gave Jana a sympathetic look. At twenty one she was no longer a little cub, but a mother, trying to manage with a young cub whilst her husband was off at uni. Of course, they were all still living in the New Territory, the houses just a few miles away. Jana visited at least a good three or four times a week whenever she wasn't working at the Kafe. She'd always bring Raven with her, so that she could play with Emilia and Cadwr's cubs.

"But Rowan is so boring," Raven complained, "He's only a baby. And Matei always pulls on my braids, I don't know why Auntie Emilia named him after Daddy because they're as different as the dark moon and the full."

"Well go and find Meinir then," Jana said encouragingly, "Didn't she say she'd teach you how to hunt today?"

Raven grinned before darting out of the tent and into the clearing where the cubs were playing, darting straight for her aunt, who picked her up and spun her around. Meinir had only just gotten her wolf back and now she seemed so much happier than Raven had remembered her being before- there was no dark cloud in her aura anymore, which made a lot of sense to Raven.

"Five years," Alric said, looking out into the clearing, "Look where we are, eh?"

Jana nodded, "Peace with the humans at long last. We're free to belong to both worlds now."

Alric nodded, "I wish your mother was here to see this. It was what she wanted most."

Jana nodded, "We will see her soon. In this life or the next. Families are never kept apart for long."

Alric nodded, tears glistening in his eyes, "We belong to so many more worlds than we can imagine, Jana. I can tell she is here, in the flowers, the breeze, the leaves. I know she's here."

Jana nodded, sobbing a little, her father hugging her tightly, "We can be happy now. We have the peace we always wanted."

Alric nodded before him and Jana looked out towards the clearing, watching the little cubs play, and the elders sit around weaving, some of the adolescent members were sparing. Yes, this was a part of their world but there was the human world too.

Jana belonged to both- a daughter of two worlds- and she would never give that up for anything.

THE END


End file.
